Gta Liberty City Stories Cover
Denisha Cerniglia
In 2006, a group of seven men from Miami were indicted for the biggest alleged Al Qaeda plot since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Their trial marked the U.S. government's first major post-9/11 domestic counterterrorism sting, but the men had no money, no weapons and no connection to al Qaeda.
In this episode, FRONTLINE filmmaker Dan Reed discusses his new documentary In the Shadow of 9/11. In his film, he examines the domestic terrorism case of the Liberty City Seven. I'm Raney Aronson-Rath, and this is The FRONTLINE Dispatch.
Well, at least five years. Yeah, it's a story that struck me as kind of being like the flip side of the films I'd done, which were about the war on terror outside the United States and outside Europe.
You know, I made a few documentaries about high-profile terrorist attacks, like trying to analyze and put together exactly how they happened. And this was a story from the homeland. And this was about how America was trying to keep itself safe, after 9/11. And it turned out that the techniques it was using were rather strange.
I think a couple of things. You know, it was a real challenge, because it's such a complex story, the story that I was struggling to put together. And it had this group of guys in the center of it, who I immediately felt an affinity for, I immediately felt that their story was never going to be told by anyone, because it was so damn complicated. And I was, you know, maybe delusional here. But I did imagine that I was probably the only person who would try and tell the story on screen.
And so, yeah, there was an emotional investment. And then there was also just an investment in trying to solve the puzzle of what actually happened in this case. How come these seven non-Muslim guys from, you know, the inner city of Miami, very poor neighborhood, who were construction workers, how come they became the defendants in these three incredibly high-profile trials? And how come they were accused of trying to mount the biggest plot since 9/11? It didn't make any sense. And I wanted to try and make it make sense.
So, when you're looking at this story of, let's go back to this era, after 9/11, America is engulfed by fear, and the FBI, of course, is tasked to make America safe. The FBI pivots almost, you know, immediately to becoming a counterterrorism and domestic intelligence agency. But the question is, were they prepared in the first place?
Well, the FBI wasn't prepared. I think there was a sense that stuff had dropped through the cracks before 9/11. The FBI, as I understand it, wasn't even really a computerized agency. And this sounds like an extraordinary thing to say, but I had it confirmed at the highest levels: Their information processing infrastructure was not very good.
It is an unfolding story. And it's based on this small group of men, one of whom you see in the opening titles coming out of prison. He's the last guy to be released, Narseal Batiste, alleged ringleader.
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Yeah. So, it's a story that I tell really using the same, I think, very simple techniques that I've always used to tell these stories, which is telling an unfolding story in an intimate register. So, trying to tell the story as, really, quite dogmatically, only through direct participants and people with direct knowledge of the story. I think that, that telling the historical story has so much more impact when it's coming from an individual that you can relate to and that you feel close to.
You definitely felt transported into their lives in a way that's really rare and exceptional. Especially because, as you said, this is a very complex story. The Liberty City Seven, the guys themselves: Just tell me who they are.
So, there's a big Haitian presence in the story, as you can tell, and I think being Haitian Americans, these guys were sort of slightly on the fringes of the African American community. And they really found in Narseal, and in this sort of project, they had this little community project to teach martial arts and sort of spread the religious word. They found a sense of community and a sense of belonging.
I had no belief into fighting any jihad, holy war or anything that's going on in the Middle East. And even though it was against my morals and values, I felt like if I can go through it and just get the money, then all of that would be washed away.
I felt like it was stupid. I didn't feel like it was a real Al Qaeda oath. Usually when somebody wants you to swear allegiance to a dangerous organization, it's going to be some type of dramatic thing. They ain't going to ask you to read from no piece of paper.
There are only five out of the seven, original seven defendants left; the other two have been acquitted. And one of them who doesn't go to prison is deported to Haiti, in spite of having been acquitted. And the five out of the seven Liberty City defendants are sentenced to terms from six to, I think,13 years. And all of them have now come out.
They seem remarkably lacking in bitterness. They do not still, I think, fully understand what happened to them, because I just think they were so stunned at finding themselves in that predicament. And then that, you know, the trials were long and complex, and they were not called upon to testify, which I think I consider as a mistake on the part of the defense, because I think they make very convincing witnesses.
But basically, the third trial, there was a dissenting juror, and the judge replaced the dissenting juror, which led to, you know, the full jury of 12 deciding on conviction. And then these young men go to prison for years and years.
The lives of these young men are ruined and, you know, their families fall apart, in many cases. And now they've all been released. And you know, they're not being treated as dangerous Al Qaeda terrorists. They're not being tailed, you know, every minute of the day by someone from a counterterrorism unit. They've just been allowed out, to just get on with their lives.
And he absolutely stuck to that. And there was no question I felt I couldn't answer him. And he was always very methodically and entertainingly accurate and thorough in his storytelling. And I think, you know, he really opens up the whole FBI side of the story for us and embeds you in their reality. There's a completely different reality, if you're sitting in the FBI cockpit, if you like, than if you're on the ground in Liberty City. And I think the film, you know, leverages that contrast, that clash of optics.
You know, I should tell you, I'm so glad you mentioned that, because you know, when we reviewed your film in the very first place, you know, that's what actually made it a FRONTLINE. It was that level of access, also to the FBI side of the story, because then you really had the shifting lenses throughout the whole film. So, congratulations.
Thank you. And I'm so glad that FRONTLINE picked it up, because you literally could not hope for a better platform for this complex, challenging, but incredibly relevant and timely film. And it's a story that really needs to be told, because Americans, I guess, should have the right to know what techniques have been used to keep the country safe after 9/11. But it's just a very challenging story to tell. I really think that FRONTLINE is the only place on American television that I could have done this.
This podcast was produced by Devin Maverick Robbins. Katherine Griwert is our editorial coordinating producer. Lauren Ezell is our senior editor. Andrew Metz is our managing editor. I'm Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer of FRONTLINE.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a 2005 action-adventure open world video game developed by Rockstar North and Rockstar Leeds for the PlayStation Portable. It is the ninth game in the Grand Theft Auto series The game was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. It was published and distributed by Capcom for the Japanese release. It was released on PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network on April 2, 2013.
A port for the PlayStation 2 was released on June 6, 2006 in North America. At the time of release, the recommended retail price of the PS2 port was around half the price of the PSP version. The PS2 port does not feature the custom soundtrack ripping capability, in comparison to its PSP counterpart. It was released on October 1, 2009 as a downloadable game on the revised PSP model PSP Go.
"There are a million stories in Liberty City. This one changes everything. Once a trusted wise guy in the Leone crime family, Toni Cipriani was forced into hiding after killing a made man. Now he's back and it's time for things to be put right.
The streets of Liberty City are in turmoil. Warring Mafiosi vie for control as the town begins to self-destruct under waves of political corruption, organized crime, drug trafficking and union strikes. No one can be trusted as Toni tries to clean up the mess of the city's chaotic underworld. Deranged hit men, morally depraved tycoons, cynical politicians and his own mother stand in his was Toni tries to bring the city under Leone control.
Forced to fight' for his life in an odyssey that will shake Liberty City to its foundations, Tony must use any means necessary to secure his place in the leadership of the Leone family in a town up for grabs." - Game's description
His boss Salvatore Leone of the Leone Family introduces Toni to the family's capo Vincenzo Cilli and persuades Toni do some work for him. Later Vincenzo informs Toni that former Leone member, now Sindacco Family bartender Joseph Daniel O'Toole or "JD", wants to rejoin the Leones and explains that they will use JD as an inside man. Vincenzo's final request to Toni is to pick up his car but is a police ambush set up by Vincenzo. Toni escapes the police and cuts his ties with Vincenzo. Toni begins to do some work for JD to pay off JD's debt to Toni and to further disrupts the Sindaccos. Toni returns to see his Ma and does some work for her to prove himself to her such as taking an embarrassing photo of Giovanni Casa, taking out some Triad shipments, racing and killing Sucho and murdering Casa at the sawmill. Ma is still not impressed and calls a hit on Toni, though Toni survives the hit and escapes.
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