HBO Documentary Film Series

The Newburgh Sting (2014x17)

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Reveals FBI involvement in the homegrown terror case of the “Newburgh Four.” Never before told publicly, the story offers startling insights into the state of surveillance in a post-9/11 world. Four street criminals with no history of violence or political ties, from an impoverished and largely African-American community, were drawn by a Pakistani FBI informant into a carefully orchestrated plot to bomb Jewish synagogues in a wealthy suburb of New York City and fire Stinger missiles at U.S. military supply planes. Their dramatic arrest, complete with armored cars, a SWAT team and FBI aircraft, played out under the gaze of major television outlets, and resulted in 25-year prison sentences. Many political figures lauded the case as a victory in the war on terror, but others have lambasted the sting as entrapment.