For years Chicago's El Rukns seemed like the average urban street gang, dabbling in racketeering, narcotics sales and the occasional murder. But El Rukns (Arabic for "the cornerstone") was far more ambitious than that. Last week a federal jury convicted five members of conspiring to commit terrorist acts against the U.S. The plotters, prosecutors said, expected to receive $2.5 million from Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for bombing buildings and airplanes and assassinating American politicians. The verdict marked the first time American citizens had been found guilty of planning terrorist acts for a foreign government in return for money. The conspirators face...
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