ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997 TAG: 9703070070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE THE ROANOKE TIMES
A story in Newsday claims that Roanoke's Abed family has supplied funds to Middle East terrorist organizations.
Federal authorities are investigating whether a Roanoke "organized crime family" arrested on federal racketeering charges this week was funneling money to Middle East terrorist organizations from their criminal activities in the Roanoke Valley.
A federal official in Roanoke would not confirm a report by Newsday, a Long Island, N.Y., newspaper, that such a link had been discovered, saying "that's an area of the case we continue to investigate." He said nothing that investigators in Roanoke have learned can corroborate that.
Newsday quoted an anonymous official in Washington as saying, "We have witnesses who will testify that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been sent to organizations outside the country that are supposed to be fronts for these [terrorist] organizations."
Jim Silvey, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' Roanoke office, said, "We have nothing to directly link them to the PLO or any other terrorist organization. We have no reason to think they are" involved.
He said that a lot of unanswered questions are being looked at.
Three defendants who appeared in a U.S. magistrate's court in Roanoke this week were asked by prosecutors whether they had ever wired money or mailed cashiers' checks overseas. One defendant said that he regularly sent money to support his younger brother, a college student in Jordan.
Joseph Abed, a 59-year-old pancake house owner alleged to be a leader of the "crime family," said he had wired only $1,000 - and that it was this week - as payment on a loan to his son's father-in-law in Jordan.
Abed and his brother, Abed Jamil Abdeljalil, are alleged to be the leaders of an "organized crime enterprise" that consisted mainly of four of their sons. They were born in the West Bank, which then was occupied by Israel, but are American citizens. Their sons all were born in the United States.
Newsday quoted one U.S. official as saying that SAAR was the beneficiary of some of the money. SAAR is an investment-management agency that supports Hamas, a Palestinian group linked to many terrorist acts in Israel.
No mention of terrorism has been made publicly in Roanoke by anyone related to the case.
Joseph Abed's lawyer showed up in federal court in Roanoke on Wednesday afternoon ready to ask for his client's release on just personal recognizance, thinking the businessman had been indicted on a firearms charge.
John Kennett was surprised to learn that his client was facing a staggering variety of charges, including murder and drug dealing - enough to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
"As far as I know, he's been a model citizen," Kennett told U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad, who denied Abed bond because of the seriousness of the charges.
Kennett could not be reached late Thursday for comment.
Abed, who also goes by the name Abbott, is accused of running "an organized crime family" out of his Valley View Restaurant and Pancake House. The 59-year-old entrepreneur was known to some people as "Pancake Joe," but to others he was the more ominous "Godfather," according to the government.
Abed has run a number of businesses in the Roanoke Valley, from restaurants to convenience stores. For a time, he also ran a neighborhood soup kitchen.
Federal prosecutors charged eight people this week with racketeering and drug conspiracy and another two with arson. The racketeering is alleged to have included, among other things, murder, arson, burglary, assaults and fraud. Joseph Abed is charged with trying to hire someone to kill Rita Abed, who "had brought dishonor to the Abed family by divorcing one of its members," the indictment says.
His son, Rayed "Rod" Abed, 25, is charged with trying to hire someone to murder an informant in a drug case.
Also charged in the indictment with racketeering are three sons of Abdeljalil - Amar Abed, 25; Obadya "Beta" Abed, 22; and Thaier "Little O" Abed, 21 - Fahed Tawalbeh, a 37-year-old Jordanian citizen. Richard Chisom, Jr., 28, a Roanoke native also is charged.
Charged with arson and insurance fraud were Mixers Restaurant and Lounge owners Riyadh Gibriel, a 36-year-old Saudi Arabian, and Ahmad Thiab, who holds dual Canadian and Iraqi citizenships. Thiab is still at large.
Roanoke Det. Bobby Harman testified at a bond hearing Thursday that most of the government's case rests on witness testimony, and that most of those witnesses are either co-conspirators or have criminal records. That testimony is backed up by evidence of arson from the ATF laboratories.
"We know this is a very try-able case now because it's going to depend on the credibility of the witnesses," said David Damico, an attorney appointed to represent Rod Abed, who was denied bond on Thursday.
With a case so dependent on the testimony of witnesses and co-conspirators - as opposed to law enforcement testimony or other evidence - the government is concerned about the possibility of threats - or worse - being made if the defendants are released on bond.
One witness was threatened with death if that person went to police with information about Rod Abed's alleged involvement in a fire, ATF Agent Tom Gallagher testified.
Roanoke police have been unable to bring charges in 10 cases they believe involved the Abeds because witnesses were too scared to testify, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant said.
"We don't particularly want any dead witnesses right now," Bondurant told Conrad at Rod Abed's hearing. Earlier he told Conrad that "the government strongly believes that a lot of these people's lives are in danger."
Silvey said several people came forward Thursday with information after learning that the Abeds were being kept in jail.
Conrad said he was reluctant to release the defendants on bond because, based on the allegations in the indictment, they "go to extreme measures to rectify their business problems" and "respond inappropriately to pressures." But he scheduled a hearing next Wednesday in which he wants to hear from two or three of the government's key witnesses to see how solid the case is.
"If I find their testimony is credible, it's going to result in your continued detention," Conrad told Rod Abed.
Joseph Abed was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital late Wednesday after complaining of possible heart attack symptoms. He was back at the Roanoke City Jail on Thursday, a jailer said.
The Abeds are accused of setting fire to their own establishments to collect insurance money and setting fire to competitors to drive them out of business. They also are accused of murdering two possible witnesses in a firebombing on 13th Street Southwest in January 1995.
The victims, Barbara Hardy and Michael Thomas, may have seen the people who threw a Molotov cocktail into the Corner Store across the street that day. The Corner Store was burned down because it was taking away business from Tawalbeh's Speedway Market across the street, according to the government.
Joseph Abed's attorney argued that there were no allegations of direct violence on his part and that he was a model citizen and decorated Vietnam veteran.
Abed said he works now as a salesman and that he owns rental property in the area.
Abed received publicity in 1994 after offering to donate an abandoned cemetery found on an 11-acre tract on Liberty Road Northwest he bought to build a store on.
The site turned out to be a graveyard for black residents dating back to at least the 1930s.
He was convicted of cruelty to animals in 1992 after 27 sheep starved to death on a Botetourt County site he was leasing.
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