Former New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly speaks publicly for the first time about a Rikers Island inmate’s plan to behead him and bomb NYPD Police Headquarters in 2007.
David Brown Jr., a 47-year-old Brooklyn felon, wanted to hire a hitman to kill and dismember Kelly, who ran the NYPD from 2002 to 2013.
Brown was furious over the November 2006 police killing of Sean Bell, who was shot dead unarmed on the morning of his wedding.
Brown blamed Kelly for the incident and wanted him beheaded as punishment and the NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza bombed. Brown was so determined that he was reportedly willing to pay $165,000 to get the job done.
An undercover officer, Chuck Byam, who is now a 25-year retired NYPD veteran, was interviewed for a new A&E docu-series called Undercover: Caught on Tape, which details how the authorities foiled the 2007 plan.
Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has spoken out about a 2007 plot by Rikers Island inmate David Brown Jr. to behead him and bomb police headquarters
Kelly shared how Brown was identified as a suspect and that he was in prison on Rikers Island at the time, so he felt relatively safe. The plot didn’t scare him too much
Kelly said the chilling conspiracy was ultimately foiled thanks to the work of the undercover officer, whom he lauded as an unsung hero.
Kelly recounted how Brown, 47, was identified and that he was in prison at the time, so he felt relatively safe and not overly scared of the conspiracy.
“We had identified this guy and he was in prison,” Kelly, now 81, said in the documentary. “I felt relatively safe. It really didn’t shock me that much. You probably don’t want to hear that, but it pretty much was.’
However, Kelly acknowledged that he was still a concern given the threat and the level of detail it contained.
According to Kelly, the threat was different than a more ordinary, sinister but anonymous phone call.
“The difference here was that we knew who this person was … We knew he was violent, and we knew he had money. He had a house that was worth at least $400,000, so it was different from the other threats. That’s when we decided to go undercover,” Kelly explained.
Undercover cop Byam had a tape recorder in his pocket for the in-person meeting, where he was asked if he could source explosives to blow up the NYPD headquarters pictured above
Brown was a violent person who had money and owned a home worth at least $400,000.
The authorities decided to try to use an undercover agent to investigate the conspiracy.
Officer Byam traveled to Rikers Island on February 23, 2007 to meet Brown to arrange the attack.
Unbeknownst to Brown, Byam had hidden a pair of tape recorders in his pockets for the face-to-face meeting at which he was asked if he could procure explosives to blow up NYPD headquarters.
“Now what I have to do is get the police commissioner killed — I want him murdered,” Brown Byam said on tape.
“I just can’t take it anymore. Every time something happens how police commissioner support police. Something like this got me so frustrated that I want him murdered,” Brown continued.
Brown said he wanted to feel like a terrorist and wanted them to feel like a “mother-fucking-terrorist.”
“I need people to feel my anger and rage,” Brown told Byam. “Every second of every day that he lives burns my soul. I take it personally every time he overlooks certain things that are happening.”
Despite Brown’s words, Byam concluded that the conspiracy had nothing to do with a foreign terrorist group and was simply one man’s vendetta.
The two agreed to pay, shook hands, and Byam left.
“This guy has some balls.” Byam told A&E, “Not that he wants to kill another drug dealer or a rival. He wants to kill the New York City Police Commissioner. That’s big. I don’t understand how you are content with wanting to take someone’s life.”
Brown was then rearrested in prison and charged with two counts, eventually leading to another six years behind bars.
Brown was furious over the November 2006 police killing of Sean Bell, who was shot unarmed on the morning of his wedding
Brown had previously been convicted of the attempted murder of his wife in 2001 and was serving time for violating a protective order for the same woman.
He also spent seven years in prison between 1981 and 1988 on armed robbery charges.
Byam said he was honored to have changed the lives of ordinary New Yorkers, though they would never know he was the one responsible.
“I made a difference with ordinary, everyday New Yorkers” – I changed their lives. Although they’ll never know I was responsible for this, I still feel good about the difference I made in New York City,” Byam said.
Then-President Barack Obama sent him a letter of congratulations, and New York Senator Chuck Schumer sent him a flag raised over the nation’s Capitol in his honor.
Kelly praised undercover cops as unsung heroes who work in the dark for little reward.
“He did a great job,” Kelly said. “You know, in the normal course of business you don’t think about things like that… but when you’re faced with all these details, the specificity of the threat, it’s a concern.
“They’re protecting us all by really putting their lives on the line,” Kelly said. He also acknowledged that Byam did a great job and was glad he was there to thwart the conspiracy against him.