'Jersey Jihadist' Carlos Almonte turned against own brother over Islam

BY BARRY PADDOCK AND RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Originally Published:Tuesday, June 8th 2010, 11:49 PM
Updated: Wednesday, June 9th 2010, 9:45 AM

Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos Eduardo Almote, the accused New Jersey Jihadists.

 

Even his family was his enemy.

One of the accused Jersey Jihadists went berserk when his brother refused to convert to Islam last year, smashing a glass picture frame over his head in a wild melee that also left his mother badly bruised, cops say.

"I guess he looked at anyone who isn't a Muslim as an enemy, including his own family," Elmwood Park Police Chief Don Ingrasselino said of Carlos Almonte, 24. "It's crazy."

The shocking revelation emerged a day after Almonte and his wanna-be jihadist pal, Mohamed Alessa, were denied bail on charges they were plotting to kill U.S. troops in Africa.

On May 23, 2009, Almonte began "preaching to [18-year-old Elvin] about the Islamic religion" in the living room of their Elmwood Park home, police reports say. When Elvin told Carlos he would not follow Islam, his 220-pound older brother allegedly flew into a rage.

"Carlos became angry and they both began fighting," the report says.

Their mom, Sabrina, tried to intervene, but Elvin mistook her left arm for Carlos' and viciously bit into it, the report says.

Moments later, Carlos grabbed the frame and slammed it into the back of his brother's head, the report says. Carlos, who by then had changed his name to Omar, fled after the incident - and his brother and mom called the cops.

He was collared eight days later after a car he was riding in with Alessa was stopped by Port Authority cops on its way into the Lincoln Tunnel.

The cops were tipped off by the FBI that the pair was heading into the city to "disrupt the Israeli Day Parade," a source told the Daily News.

"They did not have weapons or anything like that," the source added. "They were probably just going to be jerks, which is what they are."

Cops had been alerted that there was a warrant out for Almonte's arrest. They held him for Elmwood Park officers. Alessa, who had no ID on him, was detained and then released, the source said.

Almonte, the son of Dominican immigrants, told cops he worked at the apparently fictitious Yeshiva Service Center in Fair Lawn, N.J.

"I can see him [saying] that as a sick joke," Ingrasselino said.

Almonte was charged with assault and possession of an unlawful weapon - and was released after posting $500 bail.

By that point, Almonte was already well-known to cops.

In May 2004, the then-senior at Elmwood Park Memorial High School was busted for toting a switchblade into school.

Three months later, in August, he was arrested on disorderly conduct and simple assault charges after getting into a fight. That same month, he was busted for underage drinking.