[Peace-discuss] WSWS on limo crash/FBI sting

[David Green]

Deadliest US transportation incident since 2009Limo in crash that killed 20
owned by FBI terror “sting” operativeBy Josh Varlin
10 October 2018

Additional details continue to emerge about Saturday’s limousine crash
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/08/limo-o08.html> in upstate New
York, highlighting extreme negligence and indifference to human life from
the limo operator and the state and federal governments. The crash, which
killed 20 people, was the deadliest US transportation incident since a 2009
plane crash that killed 50 people.

Among the most shocking revelations is that the owner of the limo company
was Shahed Hussain, a key former informant and agent provocateur for the
FBI, who was sent to troll mosques in order to entrap a number of
individuals in “sting” operations involving fake terror plots that were of
his and the FBI’s own making.

This included the infamous “Newburgh Four” frame-up in 2010, in which four
gullible young men were lured with promises of large amounts of cash into a
phony plot to bomb a synagogue and Jewish community center. The judge in
the case, while claiming she had no choice in handing down 25-year prison
sentences, acknowledged that the government “came up with the crime,
provided the means, and removed all relevant obstacles.”

On October 6, the limo owned by Hussain’s company was carrying 17
passengers. It failed to stop at an intersection in Schoharie, New York,
driving into the parking lot of Apple Barrel Country Store, a popular
tourist destination. The limo struck two people in the parking lot and an
unoccupied parked car, before colliding with an earthen embankment. The 17
passengers, the driver and the two people in the parking lot were all
killed.

It has since emerged that the limo had failed an inspection last month,
should not have been on the road and had unregulated aftermarket
modifications that likely made it a death trap for its 17 passengers.
Moreover, the limo driver did not have the proper license and the limo
company had failed multiple inspections in recent years.

Despite a grand jury calling for a state task force after a 2015 limo
accident that killed four people, it appears that a task force was never
formed, and that Cuomo’s administration did nothing to even put in place
toothless regulations. In an attempt to shift the blame, Cuomo said Monday
that “people just don’t follow the law,” and therefore new regulations may
not be needed.

Additional information has emerged about the victims of this crash, who
were traveling to a birthday party before their lives were violently cut
short.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash,
and a full report has yet to be issued. The NTSB investigation will include
an examination of the limo’s airbag control module (analogous to an
airplane’s black box) and an autopsy of the driver to determine if drugs or
alcohol were involved in the crash.

What has already emerged, however, points to the grim fact that an accident
of this scale was a ticking time bomb.

The company that operated the limo is Prestige Limousine Chauffeur Service,
with a mailing address in Gansevoort, New York. Hussain owns four livery
companies that all share the address of “a run-down motel in the Saratoga
County town of Wilton,” according to the Rochester-based *Democrat &
Chronicle*. In addition to Prestige, Hussain owns Chauffeur Service
Saratoga, Luxury Limousine and Hasy Limousine.

Hussain emigrated to the United States from Pakistan and subsequently
pleaded guilty to charges related to “helping people cheat on [Department
of Motor Vehicles] exams in return for money.” With prison and deportation
hanging over his head, he became an informant for the FBI.

He played the central role in the 2004 arrests of two Muslim immigrants in
Albany in a supposed terror sting
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2004/08/alba-a19.html>, along with the
2009 arrests of the “Newburgh Four.”

An attorney for one of the two men arrested in 2004, Kathy Manley, told
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/09/newb-s25.html> the *World
Socialist Web Site* in 2010 that the “Newburgh Four” case was “dependent on
the credibility of a pathological liar and con man [Hussain].”

Hussain is currently in Pakistan and has not responded to press inquiries
regarding Saturday’s crash.

Over the last two years, Hussain’s vehicles have been investigated five
times, with four investigations resulting in the vehicle being ruled as
unsafe. Despite an 80 percent failure record, no apparent attempt was made
to ensure that any vehicles on the road would be safe.

The *Democrat & Chronicle* reports that “federal inspection records show
two Ford limousines owned by the company failing inspections last month.”

Cuomo said on Monday, “That vehicle [in the crash] was inspected by the New
York State Department of Transportation last month and failed inspection
and was not supposed to be on the road.” Moreover, according to Cuomo, the
limo driver did not have a commercial driver’s license with a passenger
endorsement, required to operate a passenger limo.

The September inspections cited the limos “for defective brakes, lack of
proper emergency exits, flat or balding tires, defective windshield wipers,
and other maintenance problems,” according to the Associated Press, which
also reported that the 2001 Ford Excursion had been modified after leaving
the Ford factory to make it a stretch limo with seating for 19 passengers.

Such modified limos are subject to few federal regulations, and state
regulations vary. NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told the press that only
some of the seats remained anchored to the limo’s floor after the crash.

According to a relative of one of the victims, the limo “appeared in
terrible condition” before the crash. They had originally rented “some kind
of bus,” Valerie Abeling told the *Washington Post*, but were given the
limo after the bus broke down on the way to the birthday party.

The intersection where the crash occurred was known to be hazardous. State
Routes 30 and 30A meet in a T with a stop sign. Schoharie Town Supervisor
Alan Tavenner said that the state Department of Transportation worked on
the intersection about seven years ago, although he told the *New York
Times*, “I honestly think it was a more dangerous intersection than it was
before.”

Saturday’s victims included several young couples, newlyweds and parents of
young children from around upstate New York. Among those killed were four
sisters: Amy, Abigail, Mary and Allison. Amy was celebrating her 30th
birthday. Abigail was a teacher in Amsterdam, New York.

Also killed were Amanda Halse, a waitress in Watervliet; Patrick Cushing,
an employee of the New York State Senate’s Technology Services unit; Amanda
Rivenburg, who worked at a non-profit for people with disabilities; and
Axel and Rich Steenburg, two brothers who worked at semiconductor
manufacturer GlobalFoundries.

The two pedestrians killed were Brian Hough, who was an assistant professor
of geology at SUNY Oswego, and his father-in-law. The driver was Scott
Lisinicchia.

New York State Police Major Robert Patnaude has suggested that Hussain
could face charges in relation to the 20 deaths.

Aside from the gross negligence of the state and federal government in
their enforcement of elementary safety regulations, the question arises
whether Hussain’s companies were given special dispensation because of his
services to the FBI.
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