Episode 84 | MURDER, MARTYRS AND MARATHONS | A Day of Terror in Boston

One day in April of 2013, 2 young radicalized brothers put together some homemade weapons of mass destruction and headed out to the Boston Marathon. They weren't there to cheer on the runners, but rather to seek revenge, revenge for American military action in the Middle East. In this podcast we'll take a closer look at the Boston Marathon bombing,  the radicalization of one brother that influenced the other and the timeline of the horrific hellstorm that was unleashed that fateful April day.  ★Enjoy!

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Transcript

Murder, martyrdom and marathons | A Day of Terror in Boston

Prologue

On the afternoon of April 15th, 2013, Adrianne Haslet, a ballroom dancer, is out running errands when she makes a spontaneous decision to stop and watch the runners finish the ongoing Boston Marathon  .

Next to where she stands, there’s an abandoned backpack with a ticking time bomb. 

It was a festive occasion, tens of thousands of pro and amateur athletes giving it their all that chilly spring afternoon. The roar of the crowd cheering on the thousands of exhausted runners suddenly goes silent as a deafening boom goes off nearby. 

Then there’s another explosion from within the abandoned backpack, one so powerful it blows Adrianne off her feet. She survives, but 1/3 of her horrifically mangled leg would need to be amputated. 

Act I

The 2 main players in this dark tale are brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Before we lay out their plans for death and destruction, there’s some history that needs to be shared beginning with the elder Tamerlan. Born in the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, (a region that no longer exists) Tamerlan moved with his family to Dagestan, a republic of Russia. It was here as a teenager that relatives began to become concerned about Tamerlan and his interest in Islam and extremist ideologies. In 2003 at age 17, he immigrated to the United States. However what he left behind was a trail of suspicion with Russian intel. 

U.S. Senators would testify that Russian authorities had separately asked both the FBI (at least twice: during March and November 2011) and the CIA (September 2011) to look carefully into Tamerlan Tsarnaev and provide more information about him back to Russia. The Russian FSB (the Federal Security Service) had secretly recorded phone conversations between Tamerlan and his mother vaguely and indirectly discussing jihad, and sent these to the FBI as evidence of possible extremist links within the family.

Tamerlan’s mother claimed that he had been under FBI surveillance for at least three years and that they were controlling his every step. The FBI denied this accusation.

Then came September 11th, 2011 (the 10-year anniversary of 9/11). Two Jewish men and their roommate were killed in a triple homicide in Waltham, Massachusetts. Each victim's throat had been slit with such force they were nearly decapitated.

Even though forensic evidence connected Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the scene of the killings, and cell phone records appeared to place him in the area, officials decided against bringing an indictment against him, citing the need for more definitive DNA testing. This incident wouldn’t become relevant again until much later on. 

Tamerlan then went to Russia. If he wasn’t already radicalized, it’s this period from January till July, 2012, that most people mark as the point of no return. 

He stayed in Dagestan, with his wife and child. The U.S. Homeland Security believe Tsarnaev received training when he was over there and was radicalized. 

According to media reports, Tsarnaev was seen by Dagestan police, who were conducting surveillance, making six visits to a known Islamic militant in a Salafi mosque. He met several times with a man that was a suspected recruiter for Islamist insurgents and was under close surveillance by Dagestan's anti-extremism unit. Later he was shot dead by police.

According to Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, Tsarnaev had sought to join the local insurgency, and was put on a period of 'quarantine' – a clearance check by insurgents looking for infiltrating double agents, taking several months for a recruit to be verified. After Tsarnaev's alleged contacts were killed, he ‘got frightened and fled’. He left Russia in July two days after one of his contacts was killed, in an apparent rush that Russian authorities considered suspicious. He left without picking up his new Russian passport – one of his main reasons for going to Russia in the first place.

In an interview, Tamerlan’s father later said he had to force his son to return to the United States to complete his U.S. citizenship application, after Tamerlan tried to convince his family to allow him to stay in Dagestan for good.

When he returned to the US, his family was surprised to see he had grown a long, thick beard, and began wearing eye makeup known as kohl, which is an ancient eye cosmetic widely used in the Middle East). It’s used as a sign of religious devotion to the Sunni of Islam and the example of Muhammad.

Tsarnaev’s online presence also came under scrutiny- one YouTube playlist was labeled ‘Terrorists’, including one of a Dagestani Islamic militant. 

He also linked to jihadi videos. In one video, voices can be heard singing in Arabic as bombs explode.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev wasn’t alone in his sinister plot that April day in Boston. Terror came in twos. Enter younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. His path to radicalization isn’t as clear-cut. There is no trip to Dagestan and alleged Islamist training to point to – it’s all far more subtle, only noticeable between the lines. 

Dzhokhar was born in Kyrgyzstan in 1993, and immigrated to the US when he was eight years old under political asylum. He enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in September, 2011. He was described as ‘normal’ and popular among fellow students. His friends said he sometimes smoked marijuana, liked hip hop, and did not talk to them about politics. They found it inconceivable that he could be involved in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Then, in 2013, a series of unfortunate events including his parents’ divorce and their return to Dagestan, poor academic performance, and losing his financial aid, seemingly led him to a low point. In a text to a friend of his he wrote ‘Come May I’m out.’

Then he sent another text. It read ‘I mean there’s 1 other option, bro. Highest level of Jannah.’ 

Only the most pious of Muslims get to Jannah, paradise; the final abode of the righteous. But there’s a short cut, according to proponents of jihad: You can become a martyr.

‘I got a plan,’ he texted next. ‘I’ll tell you later about it.’

Militant material started showing up on his computer and devices more than a year before the bombings. He began to spend more time with Tamerlan.

His audio collection included speeches and videos of al Qaeda propaganda master Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born Yemeni cleric who was known as the Osama bin Laden of the Internet until he died in a U.S. drone strike in 2011. Matthew Levitt, who heads the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, called it ‘terrorism to go’.

According to Levitt, that was the appeal to both brothers – reaching ‘the highest level of paradise through the ultimate sacrifice: martyrdom.’

And Dzhokhar exemplified the other way of getting radicalized, in contrast to his brother. Levitt described how with ‘terrorism to go,’ a recruit no longer needs to travel to a training camp, he now can find everything he needs to know ‘sitting on his computer in Mama’s basement.’

Act II

The preparation went on for months before the bombing, beginning with rudimentary research on how to be the best terrorist. 

At some point during those months Dzhokhar downloads a copy of Volume 1 of al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine, which includes an article titled Make a Bomb in Mom’s Kitchen, and instructions on how to build IEDs (improvised explosive devices) using pressure cookers or sections of pipe, explosive powder from fireworks, and shrapnel.

On February 6th, Tamerlan buys 48 mortars containing approximately 8 pounds of low-explosive powder at a fireworks store in Seabrook, New Hampshire.

On March 20th, the brothers rent two 9 mm handguns and buy 200 rounds of ammo at a firing range in Manchester, New Hampshire, and practice for about an hour.

On April 14th, Tamerlan receives by mail electronic components to be used in making the IEDs (which he had ordered over the Internet). They now had everything they needed for their attack. They loaded two pressure cookers with an egg-timer each, black powder, nails and ball bearings. It was go time.

The following day on April 15th, the Boston Marathon began at 9:30am with more than 30,000 participants. Little did anyone know one of the most frightening events imaginable would erupt hours later. 

At around 2:39 pm, the Tsarnaev brothers, carrying backpacks, turn off Gloucester Street onto Boylston Street near the final stretch of the Boston Marathon.

About a minute later, Tamerlan walks to the front of Marathon Sports on Boylston Street and places a backpack containing a pressure cooker bomb among the crowd gathered near the finish line. Dzhokhar walks to the front of the Forum restaurant, about a block and a half away, and leaves a second backpack and pressure cooker bomb among the crowd there. The Boston Marathon is in its fourth hour. 

At 2:48 pm, Dzhokhar calls Tamerlan on a prepaid cell phone and speaks with him briefly. We can assume this was their confirming all was in place and the mission was underway. There was no turning back.

At 2:49 pm, Tamerlan detonates the first bomb in front of Marathon Sports, killing one person and burning and maiming many others.

About 12 seconds later, Dzhokhar sets off the second bomb in front of the Forum restaurant, killing three, and injuring more than 260  including 16 that lost limbs. This was the explosion that took Adrianne Haslet’s leg.

Runners continued to cross the finish line until 2:57 p.m.

At 3:30 pm, a cab driver and friend of both brothers, calls Tamerlan and invites them to dinner, his treat, at a restaurant.

At 8:04 pm, Dzhokhar tweets, ‘Ain’t no love in the heart of the city. Stay safe people.’

The next day, Jeff Bauman, a victim who lost both his legs, gives the FBI a description of the man who dropped a backpack near him.

Meanwhile Dzhokhar returns to campus at UMass-Dartmouth, swiping his ID. Five minutes later, he and a friend go to the gym.

At 1:43 am on the 17th, Dzhokhar tweets, ‘I’m a stress free kind of guy.’ 

Later that afternoon, a college friend visits Dzhokhar in his dorm room, and notices that he has cut his hair short.

On the 18th, three days after the bombing, Dzhokhar still goes on with his college life like nothing’s happened. He goes to his classes and hangs out with his friends.

At 5 pm, the FBI publishes surveillance photos of the bombing suspects on its website. They are immediately picked up by media around the world. The names of the suspects are not yet public.

At some point within the next hour, a classmate of Dzhokhar who has known him since high school, calls another classmate and tells him to watch the news because one of the bomb suspects looks familiar.

At 8:45 pm, Dzhokhar responds to a text by the second classmate noting that the suspect looks like him, with ‘LOL’. 

He then sends another text saying ‘You better not text me’ and ‘If yu want yu can go to my room and take what’s there.’

The Tsarnaev brothers head to the family’s apartment in Cambridge, where they grab five IEDs, a machete, a Ruger P95 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and plenty of ammunition. They drive Dzhokhar’s Honda Civic to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge.

25 minutes later, an MIT police officer is ambushed from behind and shot in the head at close range with the Ruger. Tamerlan is the alleged shooter.

At 11 pm, one of the brothers – believed to be Tamerlan – points a gun at a man and carjacks his leased Mercedes SUV. ‘Did you hear about the Boston explosion?’ he says. ‘I did that.’ 

At 12:15 am, the brothers stop at a gas station. Having to pay cash, Dzhokhar leaves the car and Tamerlan momentarily puts his gun down – the man takes advantage of the moment and jumps out of the car, runs to another gas station across the street and calls 911. He tells police they can track the SUV because he left his iPhone in it. The brothers drive to Laurel Street and Dexter Avenue in Watertown, where police try to apprehend them.

At 12:43 am, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan engage in a gun battle with police and use four of the five IEDs, including a pressure cooker bomb and pipe bombs.

Seven minutes later Tamerlan, weakened by multiple gunshot wounds, is tackled by three Watertown police officers. He struggles as they try to handcuff him.

Meanwhile, Dzhokhar gets back into the Mercedes SUV and speeds towards the three police officers. He barely misses one of them, who was attempting to drag Tamerlan to safety, and inadvertently runs over his brother, ‘seriously injuring him and contributing to his death,’ according to the indictment.

45 minutes later, at 1:35 am, Tamerlan is pronounced dead at the hospital. The cause: ‘traumatic injuries’ of the head and torso. His fingerprints lead to identification of both bombing suspects.

Dzhokhar, also bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, smashes his cell phones and abandons the Mercedes on Spruce Street in Watertown. He hides inside a dry-docked boat, The Slipaway II, in a backyard in Watertown.

At 7 am, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s name and photo are released to the public. Police begin a door-to-door search in Watertown, which is under a ‘shelter in place’ order.

At some point from 6 to 7 pm, the ‘shelter in place’ order is briefly lifted, and the owner of the Slipaway II goes out to check on his boat, and sees ‘a man covered with blood under the tarp.’

At 8.30 pm, police announce they have a person they believe to be suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev cornered in the boat. They fire flash-bang grenades and their weapons and order him to come out with his hands up.

15 minutes later, covered in blood, Dzhokhar emerges from the boat, lifting his shirt to show that he’s not armed.

On April 22nd, formal criminal charges are brought against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. 

On May 9th, Tamerlan Tsarnaev is buried in rural Virginia after a weeklong search for a cemetery willing to take his body. 

On July 30th, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleads not guilty to all 30 charges brought against him.

Act III

In 2014, during the preparation of Dzokhar’s defense, his lawyers filed a motion seeking all documents relating to FBI contact with Tamerlan. The reason? They believed Tamerlan was a federal informant.

They claimed information from Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s family and other sources that the FBI made more than one visit to speak with Tamerlan, and asked him to be an informant, reporting on the Chechen and Muslim community.

Prosecutors said they found no evidence that Tamerlan was ever solicited by the government to be an informant. Defense attorneys insisted that prosecutors had the evidence but kept it to themselves, and asked a judge to force them to turn it over (presumably to no avail). 

Defense attorneys also argued that Tamerlan may have misinterpreted the FBI’s visits, calling the discussions a ‘stressor that increased his paranoia and distress.’

The angle that Dzokhar’s lawyers were going for is that Tamerlan influenced his younger brother – specifically, that the motivation and ideology behind the bombings came exclusively from him.

This theory was recently picked up by Emmy-nominated investigative journalist Michele McPhee in her book, Maximum Harm: The Tsarnaev Brothers, The FBI, and the Road to the Marathon Bombing. In it, McPhee describes Tamerlan as ‘the perfect recruit. He had tentacles in the drug world. He spoke multiple languages. He could mix in anywhere. He was tall and handsome. He had an American wife. Here was a guy that really was the perfect recruit.’

McPhee also cites Tamerlan’s desire for U.S citizenship as potential motivation, alleging that the FBI offered him citizenship in exchange for being an informant.

Obviously the FBI denied these allegations, stating that ‘the Tsarnaev brothers were never sources for the FBI nor did the FBI attempt to recruit them as sources’.

It’s worthwhile to point out the fact that the FBI is not legally required to release information on informants. 

In addition to FBI-related documents, defense lawyers also asked for all documents from an interview with Ibragim Todashev, in which he allegedly admitted to participating alongside Tamerlan in the throat-slitting murder of those 3 men in Waltham in 2011.

On May 22nd, 2013, an FBI agent in Orlando, Florida, fatally shot Todashev after he lunged at law enforcement officials questioning him about the Waltham killings. According to officials, this was right after Todashev had agreed to give a statement about his involvement. 

After the bombings, the investigation of those murders in Waltham was reopened with Tamerlan as a new suspect, and led to theories that the initial investigation of the Waltham triple murder had been suppressed by the FBI in order to maintain Tsarnaev's informant status.

The foundation of this claim is a particular criticism of the FBI under former director James Comey, of encouraging confidential informants to attempt terrorist attacks. 

According to researcher Trevor Aaronson, author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism, of 508 defendants prosecuted in federal terrorism-related cases in the decade after 9/11, 243 were prompted to act by informants—who were paid as much as $100,000 per assignment.

It’s this alleged practice that has given rise to the conspiracy theory that the United States government had foreknowledge of the Tsarnaev brothers' plans to commit a terrorist attack, or even that the attack was straight-up made at the direction of intelligence services. 

The Tsarnaev brothers’ uncle, along with other members of the Tsarnaev family have repeated this theory, in addition to claiming neither brother actually committed the attacks.

Epilogue

On April 8th, 2015, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 charges he faced, including the charge of usage of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. To this day, he remains on death row.

On the 18th of April, 2022, after having to re-learn how to walk with a lower prosthetic leg, Adrianne Haslet ran and finished the Boston Marathon, overcoming a seemingly endless flood of setbacks on her way to the finish line.