A man accused of plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue had a double life as a cosmetics counter clerk and dapper dresser who insisted his co-conspirators wear sharp suits.
New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly fleshed out the details Friday of the jaunty jihadist who combines "pathological hatred for Jewish people" with a distinctly softer side.
Ahmed Ferhani, a 26-year-old Algerian immigrant, formerly worked at swish department store Saks Fifth Avenue selling make-up.
"Make no mistake about what he wanted to do: get guns, get explosives, blow up synagogues and kill Jews," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance of the North African immigrants, who were busted Wednesday in Midtown.
“Ferhani was committed to violent jihad and his plans became bigger and more violent with each passing week,” he added.
And in addition to what law enforcement officials describe as an
"aspirational" plan for mass murder in at least one synagogue and possibly at the Empire State Building, Ferhani had quite different aspirations: to be a model and actor.
"You see the pictures in court. He's a well-dressed guy," Kelly noted in an interview on CNN.
During seven months of interaction with people he believed to be fellow jihadists but who were actually undercover police, Ferhani insisted everyone dress as sharply as he did.
"He wanted to make sure the undercover officers were involved, they wore suits and ties so they didn't stand out. That was his operational security approach," Kelly said.
Ferhani and co-accused Mohammed Mamdouh, 20, a US citizen, were arrested Wednesday after buying handguns and an inert grenade from an undercover officer in a sting operation. Officials announced the arrests Thursday.
The two are being held without bail and face life in prison if convicted on New York state terrorism charges.
According to prosecutors, the pair from Queens discussed and planned setting off explosives in a synagogue, as well as other mayhem. However, the decision by federal prosecutors to leave the case in lower-level state hands indicated that the threat was not considered to have national security implications.
Kelly and other officials said the two men are "home-grown" and not part of a wider, foreign-based plot.
New video released shows how the two man were taken down by NYPD officers.
In the footage, police swarm the clueless would-be bombers as they allegedly purchased an arsenal for their operation.
Cops cut off any chance of escape before slamming the mayhem-seeking Muslims to the ground and cuffing them. Moments later, the two are hauled into police vehicles and taken away.
Raymond Kelly reported that Mamdouh said "I hate Jews" and Ferhani added "I want to kill them" when undercover cops first met them seven months ago.
Ferhani was "fed up with the way Muslims were being treated around the world" and he told an undercover cop "they're treating us like dogs," Kelly said.
Ferhani allegedly told undercover police he planned to disguise himself as a Jewish worshipper by growing a beard and curly hair locks -- and would "leave a bomb" at Manhattan's largest synagogue. The house of worship was never identified.
Ferhani said they wanted to blow up synagogues "one after another," Kelly said.
The undercovers moved in once Ferhani expressed "an increasing desire to act," a source said.
Shortly before Ferhani was busted Wednesday night as he drove with two undercovers on the West Side Highway at 58th Street, he asked one of them to get him a bulletproof vest and a silencer, sources said.
He was busted there and Mamdouh was nabbed nearby.
Mamdouh is of Morrocan origin and is a US citizen.