JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 6, 2007

FBI Wary Of Threat To Goldman Sachs

Handwritten Letters Sent To Newspapers Threaten Investment Firm

  • The headquarters of investment firm Goldman Sachs in New York in a Dec. 11, 2006, file photo. The FBI is investigating anonymous threats against the firm contained in handwritten letters sent in late June, 2007, warning that Photo

    The headquarters of investment firm Goldman Sachs in New York in a Dec. 11, 2006, file photo. The FBI is investigating anonymous threats against the firm contained in handwritten letters sent in late June, 2007, warning that "hundreds will die" and "We are inside. You cannot stop us."  (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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(AP)  The FBI is investigating anonymous mailed threats against the Goldman Sachs investment firm but does not consider the warnings to be of "high credibility," an investigator said Friday.

The letters, handwritten in red ink on loose-leaf paper and signed "A.Q.U.S.A.," were mailed to 20 newspapers around the country, authorities said. The letters contained the warning: "Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us."

A federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the FBI "does not assign high credibility to the threat" because of the circumstances surrounding the letters, including their brevity and the nonspecific nature of the threat. The investigator spoke on condition of anonymity.

Michael DuVally, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, said the firm was working closely with law enforcement authorities, adding that authorities told the firm they don't believe the threat is credible.

"We take any threat to the safety to our people seriously," DuVally said. "We have a broad range of security measures in place to counter all likely threats and we're monitoring the situation closely."

New York FBI spokesman James Margolin said the bureau was trying to determine the origin of the letters. "All threats are taken seriously," he said.

The letters, postmarked in late June from the New York boroughs of Queens and the Bronx, were being analyzed by FBI and U.S. Postal inspectors at the FBI crime lab in Washington, and at the postal service lab in Dulles, Va., said Tom Boyle, a spokesman for the Postal Inspection Service.

Another investigator familiar with the case told the AP it may be difficult to isolate the fingerprints of whoever sent the letters because others touched the envelopes after they were mailed. The investigator said the letters are believed to have been dropped in mailboxes and not mailed from a post office.

The investigators who spoke on condition of anonymity did so because they were not authorized to discuss the case with the media.

Investigators said they also will be looking for DNA evidence that may have been contained in saliva left when the envelopes were sealed. In addition, they will be examining the postal bar codes routinely stamped on letters to pinpoint exactly where the letters entered the mail stream.

The letters were sent to newspapers in Seattle; Boise, Idaho; Corpus Christi, Texas; Fort Wayne, Ind.,; Bayonne and Newark, N.J., and cities in Vermont, Ohio and North Dakota.

The newspapers notified local law enforcement agencies after receiving the letters and in some cases alerted Goldman Sachs directly, law enforcement officials said. Officials said they have no reason to suspect that the newspapers that received the threatening letters have been targeted.

Jim Chapman, assistant metro editor of The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne said their paper received one of the letters postmarked Queens on July 2 and immediately turned it over to the FBI.

Goldman Sachs did not receive any of the threatening letters, Boyle said.

Goldman Sachs is based in New York and has offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other cities. About 3,000 people work in its 44-story Jersey City, N.J., tower.

It is a federal crime to send threats through the U.S. mail, punishable by up to 10 years in prison if convicted.



© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Add a Comment See all 42 Comments
by tnt1954 July 6, 2007 1:22 PM PDT
as the saying goes, if at first you don't
succeed, try, try, try again. you can always
lose, lose, lose again. not necessarily a
terrorist letter. probably a sore loser.
gambled and lost. i think a lotta these
so-called terrorist bombings are personal
vendettas and attempts at cashing in on
relatives life insurance etc. and other
methods of getting rich quick, and enjoying
life rather than working forever in jobs
that no sane man would want, like a slaughterhouse
or as a butcher at a grocery store, or one of
the many jobs only illegal aliens likes.
what if you had to be a 7-11 clerk from 9 pm
to 6 am 7 days a week. your mind would probably
try to figure some way out of the dilemma?
the authorities will have this wrapped up in
two shakes of a lambstail.
Reply to this comment
by feelfree1 July 6, 2007 1:51 PM PDT

So if our smoke-and-mirror, trickle-down, pyramid scheme economy, should suddenly take a BIG DUMP, don't blame the greedy vultures at Goldman Sachs.

It is these scary letters that will be to blame!

This is probably just Cheney clowning around again.
Reply to this comment
by minminmin-2009 July 6, 2007 2:07 PM PDT
A.Q., USA like in Al Qaeda? Since when did they start notifying people they were going to blow something up? Kinda takes the fun out of it. I don't think it's really Al Qaeda.
Reply to this comment
by cathaleen July 6, 2007 2:22 PM PDT
The brokerage firms hire these people in their operations areas at cheap salaries. It used to be they would have to worry about the mafia working in their companies, now they have the muslims.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 2:40 PM PDT
So if our smoke-and-mirror, trickle-down, pyramid scheme economy, should suddenly take a BIG DUMP, don't blame the greedy vultures at Goldman Sachs.

It is these scary letters that will be to blame!

This is probably just Cheney clowning around again.
Posted by FeelFree1

One thing is for certain...we the people of this country will pay dearly to fund the security of multinational corporate bodies of wealth and power just as the serfs and peasants funded the oligarchies and church states of old europe.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 2:44 PM PDT
Man, I wouldn't wanna be a cop. How do you tell the difference between legitimate threats and fake ones? Especially in this country. With all these activistic lunatics running around.

I'm glad you guys are trained, and know what yer doing.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 2:44 PM PDT
Pat Robertson warns of the European Union and the United Nations as being 666, but 666 is multinational corporations and the behind the scenes undermining of representative governments around the world.

The multinational corporate devils have wanted big (representative) government off their backs putting forth this message with Ronald Reagan. They want big government off their backs because they want to be the government.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 2:47 PM PDT
Give it to Nancy Grace. She'll figure it out.

"Ohhhh! *big sigh*.. Its just some man.. *eyeroll*"

And with the campaign in near full swing? Right wing loonies? Left wing loonies? And everybody stuck in a middle like a oreo cookie.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 2:49 PM PDT
donnie900, Oh, you're just so gay.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 2:50 PM PDT
"The multinational corporate devils have wanted big (representative) government off their backs putting forth this message with Ronald Reagan. They want big government off their backs because they want to be the government."

Thats just radical muslim talk. Its their religion to go after big companies. To them, anybody who don't pray 5 times a day is a infidel.

Do you pray 5 times a day?

That.. dude who hid out in the virginia hills bombing abortion clinics was osama's big fan.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 2:53 PM PDT
Teach muslims female terrorism: Knowing everything already.

IQ to them is a orgazzzm.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 2:54 PM PDT
That.. dude who hid out in the virginia hills bombing abortion clinics was osama's big fan.
Posted by donnie900

Wow, really? I didn't know Islamo fascists had so much in common with the chrisitian right...come to think of it, muslims, jews and some christians cut the skin off their di*cks at birth....maybe they should all come together on a common ground.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 2:57 PM PDT
Whats wrong with business, anyway? Why don't people wanna make money? Whats so evil about it?

And insurance. You think that companies moving overseas should just.. tolerate indiscriminate acts of terror without some sort of compensation? Huh?

"God's paying for it."
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:00 PM PDT
Doncha know? That thats how civilizations are born? Commerce? Where do wanna work? How ya gonna get food on the table? Don't ya want a profession? A skill? Don't you wanna be known for something else other than your name? "Thats donnie the plumber!" Not donnie the radical lunatic..
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:04 PM PDT
Yup.. those FBI guys got their PHDs on this stuff.. They know whats going on. They're the uber "knowing whats going on"'s.. I saw silence of the lambs, ya know.

Ya don't have to tell them how to do their jobs. And ya don't have to worry about everybody else, either. Cuz they got the psychological profile, right ******** there.. in front of'em.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 3:04 PM PDT
Whats wrong with business, anyway? Why don't people wanna make money? Whats so evil about it?

And insurance. You think that companies moving overseas should just.. tolerate indiscriminate acts of terror without some sort of compensation? Huh?

"God's paying for it."
Posted by donnie900

What's wrong with individual rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? What's wrong with the masses of humanity having a voice to protect themselves from economic bullies and sociopaths?

How is it business, an entity of human endeavor, is viewed as something that is free of wrong doing, that business can do no wrong, that it doesn't need laws and limits set on its behavior as much as any other human endeavor? The business world has managed through the right wing fascists to sheild itself from scrutiny much as religious ideologies and the medical field have and continue to in the minds of some. Business is a human endeavor that is being exploited by sociopaths who want free reign to terrorize economically and politically.

Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:07 PM PDT
*BEEP!* "George Bush" *BEEP!*
Reply to this comment
by lars008-2009 July 6, 2007 3:08 PM PDT
non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.
I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm
thank you demonic-rats%u2026
New Video From Al Qaeda Number Two
"You must be patient and steadfast," he says. "Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah's permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/new-video-from-.html
Sentencing them, Judge Charles Openshaw said the men had engaged in "cyber jihad", encouraging others to kill "kuffars" or non-believers.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070705142313.zr9n5g5g&show_article=1
45 Muslim doctors planned US terror raids
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/05/nterror405.xml
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 3:10 PM PDT
Little boys were exploited by priests because "father is a man of God", "Pat Robertson is a man of God" so everything he says ( in the minds of some), like the call to assasinate a democratically elected latin american leader or everything he does like invest in huge gold mines in Africa that bring hardship to the indigenous people of the region is o.k. again, in the minds of some.

Multinational corporate sociopaths are creating the same kind of loop hole for themselves with the "free market"

In america for certain, you are as free as you are connected and wealthy.

How many americans would anticipate a pardon like Scooter Libby if committing high crimes and how many americans working for multinational corporations expect a secure retirement like Kenneth Lay?---yeah, he's dead but there are others as well as him at the top. Corruption is becoming a part of our culture and it's a terrible tragedy.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:10 PM PDT
"Business is a human endeavor that is being exploited by sociopaths who want free reign to terrorize economically and politically."

Such an attitude is anti-american. Just because something is a business doesn't mean we abandon our principle of presumption of innocence. One bad apple doesn't mean they're all bad. And some businesses out there, even if bad, wanna be good again.

Its indelibility thats the enemy. This.. permanent unacceptability of the makings of the world, at the way it does business. Things can change, but not thru violence. Quite the contrary.. Thats how they remain the same.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:14 PM PDT
"How many americans would anticipate a pardon like Scooter Libby if committing high crimes and how many americans working for multinational corporations expect a secure retirement like Kenneth Lay?---yeah, he's dead but there are others as well as him at the top. Corruption is becoming a part of our culture and it's a terrible tragedy."

You're too permanent. You judge too quickly, basing that judgment merely on face value. And not examining the sources of these things. That can be surgically removed! Without sacrificing the whole..
Reply to this comment
by feelfree1 July 6, 2007 3:29 PM PDT
l8c6,

Good comments.
Reply to this comment
by feelfree1 July 6, 2007 3:37 PM PDT

Re: "We are inside."

We know. The former top financial pirate from Goldman Sachs, is our current Treasury Secretary.

What a coincidence?
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 3:37 PM PDT
donnie900, Can't you read? Business in itself is not bad, but it needs laws imposed on it as much as the individual tattoo covered sociopath who shot the prison guard in Utah last week.

This business can do no wrong, free unregulated market is all good and top business leaders are like God is a bunch of cr*ap.

Laws are very american donnie.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:37 PM PDT
Nobody's threatening your way of life. They're just making money. And unless you learn how to talk to these people, they will always be your rich enemies. And thats a life of poverty! Poverty! Socialism does not work. And it can never work.

The only thing that works is capitalism.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 3:40 PM PDT
I like many people are beyond tired of being labeled anti-american by some of the most unpatriotic flag waving, double standard living, hypocrits that contradict the founding principles of this nation ever to via paperwork call themselves legal citizens.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:40 PM PDT
"donnie900, Can't you read? Business in itself is not bad, but it needs laws imposed on it as much as the individual tattoo covered sociopath who shot the prison guard in Utah last week."

Yah, but your dialogue is all in the rhetorical! Can you give any specifics? Or are you just out to make speeches? Huh? Complaining about the god damned weather! Huh?

Can anybody talk to you?
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:44 PM PDT
Its very simple. The only thing indelible around here is the religious extremism.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 3:44 PM PDT
The United States treasury is NOT the United States Treasury. It is a privatized entity that extends beyond the bouderies of the United States.

It has only one employee that is appointed by our pimped non-representative government. This one "federal" employee/appointee has one set of constituents he's accountable to and it is not the american people.

We the people will pay for the security that will protect their private gated enclaves.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:47 PM PDT
They gate them to keep the coyotes out.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 3:49 PM PDT
donnie900, One this is simple, you and your deluded mind.

You ask the questions...start seeking the truth, the truth will set you freer than holding your faith in a system that has become corrupted and non-representative of the masses of people of this nation.

Ronald Reagans non-informative double speak speeches about getting big government off the backs of some has worked out quite well for them. We have lost our voice, a supreme court that in disconnected from the people and three houses of government who are pimped by well connected wealth lobbys with multinational interests and a disdain for governments that represent the will of the people in their lands.

We the people should have seen the handwriting on the wall when our "democratic" government was in the business of funding right wing oppressive dictatorships around the world.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:50 PM PDT
Communication? *Big sigh*.. Communication is a difficult thing to grasp. Most of the time it *is* rhetorical.. It *is* just a good sounded song. But sometimes! Sometimes.. it gets specific. And when it gets specific, good things are done. Productive things..

Narrow your skills. Not everything is the grand illusion.. Not everything is a side burn, or some chick admiring the way you talk. Some things are actually solvable.
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 3:54 PM PDT
"You ask the questions...start seeking the truth, the truth will set you freer than holding your faith in a system that has become corrupted and non-representative of the masses of people of this nation."

My faith is not in a system. It never was.

"We the people should have seen the handwriting on the wall when our "democratic" government was in the business of funding right wing oppressive dictatorships around the world."

It was YOUR people. It was YOUR issue! "Genocide"!
Reply to this comment
by donnie900 July 6, 2007 4:00 PM PDT
Yup.. FBI agents got dem der PHDs.. and freak'n.. doctorates.. and freak'n.. high school diplomas. And ya can't fool them! Uh-uh.. They'ze too smart. Thats what they go to school fer, ya know. To tell the difference! Between a fake and a phoney.
Reply to this comment
by cmp271 July 6, 2007 6:01 PM PDT
Start checking the buildings themselves and the background of the employees.

The bombers in England, the warning was something such as those who you think will help you will kill or harm you...sounds like a warning to me about we are already inside! If anyone is reading let's hope they are heeding the suggestions on here , if there are any????
Reply to this comment
by radiob-2009 July 6, 2007 7:26 PM PDT
This sounds more like a disgruntled former employee trying to get revenge on his former employer than a actual terrorist attack.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 6, 2007 9:23 PM PDT
It was YOUR people. It was YOUR issue! "Genocide"!
Posted by donnie900

O.k.,it's now confirmed,you're sitting and spinning on a pinnacle while smoking crack.
Reply to this comment
by djmo1-2009 July 6, 2007 10:07 PM PDT
It was nondescript in 2001, there wasn't even the courtesy of a note. Is there speculation that a terrorist cell is now bound by the rules of etiquette?
Reply to this comment
by mitywhity July 7, 2007 11:04 AM PDT
Real or not, the fact that muslims have proliferated our country makes any threat noteworthy - pardon the pun. Cal Thomas says it better than I when he says; "When will we wake up?" I have already awoken personally when the first bombing of the Trade Center occurred during the Clinton administration. As evidenced by the "good doctors" of the British Isles who were "peace loving muslims", we all need to wake up! As with any peoples group, you have the bold and the meek. The meek claim that they are against terror, yet when the bold finally attain power through violence and institute sharia law, the meek become bold and join right in. Go to CAIR.com - read for your self the false denials. They purport one thing and do another - research CAIR for yourself. Americans who do not follow allah need to unite and become very vigilant unless you want to see your children's children learning the quran and praying towards the east.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 July 7, 2007 11:35 AM PDT
MityWhity, Perhaps it's high time the western world reread the story of the invading Moors and what it took to get the sneaky snakes back in their cages. They have religious fanaticism as their glue but what does the western world have? Some proclaim we have freedom, but with our brand of freedom has come division not unification and common cause.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Reply to this comment
by mitywhity July 7, 2007 3:23 PM PDT
Some proclaim we have freedom, but with our brand of freedom has come division not unification and common cause.............
To that I say yes - freedom is not for the unity of all peoples into one blurry mass. Freedom is for the full development of the individual apart from outward pressures to conform to a "common" existence. What has come under attack is that very thing, individuality. Political correctness has undermined the very tenets of our free society to even the distinction between what is masculine and what is feminine. The definition of tolerance has been expanded to mean that we all must tolerate to the very brink of endorsement of every religion, cause or behavior. Our brand of freedom is not the problem but the brand of unification is the danger here. It is psychological socialism aimed at achieving what bullets and bombs could not and that target is universal socialism. That is ideal fodder to grow the muslim religion in. Be an individual and not a participant.
Reply to this comment
by tylenol6 July 7, 2007 6:04 PM PDT
GOLDMAN SACHS IS PART OF THE "NEW WORLD ORDER". I
THINK IT IS ALL PART OF PLAN TO TERRORIZE THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE. I HOPE THEY ARE NOT FALLING FOR
THIS ***. ALSO, IF THERE IS ANY KIND OF ATTACK
ON THE U.S., I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL
DO MORE TO BUSH THAN JUST IMPEACH HIM FOR LEAVING
OUR BORDERS WIDE OPEN.
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