Chicago Man Arrested for Bomb Plot

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Aug 5, 2004 6:56PM

Federal agents arrested arrested a Chicago man who had been plotting to bomb the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

Prosecutors said Gale William Nettles was arrested with a pickup truck containing 1,500 pounds of fertilizer that he intended to sell to terrorists. Nettles had thought he bought a load of ammonium nitrate -- the same fertilizer used by Timothy McVeigh -- but he instead has acquired a non-dangerous fertilizer.

He was arrested Thursday morning in a park when he met undercover agents who he thought were terrorists willing to buy a fertilizer bomb for $10,000. In a previous meeting, he had told under cover agents that he had a half ton of ammonium nitrate in New Orleans and could supply them with a 3,000-pound fertilizer bomb with which to blow up his chosen target -- the Dirksen Federal Building.

Released from prison in 2003, Nettles had been convicted of counterfeiting and seemed to hold a grudge against the court system. A scary reminder that not all intended terrorists are foreigners, although fortunately a major tragedy was averted.

Previously Chicagoist posted about how "thin white photographer" was accosted by an FBI agent in Federal Plaza for taking photographs of the building.. maybe they were on to something and DID have a right to be suspicious. Crazy.