USA v. Ciccolo, Alexander
Adams, MA

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

[DMA] Alexander Ciccolo of Adams, Mass., was arrested on gun charges after buying two rifles from an undercover FBI informant. A search of Ciccolo's apartment revealed possible bomb-making materials including a pressure cooker, chemicals, an alarm clock, as well as jihadi written materials. According to the affidavit, Ciccolo planned to travel to another state and use a pressure cook bomb "to conduct terrorist attacks on civilians, members of the U.S. military and law enforcement personnel." Ciccolo, a convert to Islam, also went by the name Abu Ali al-Amriki. His Facebook posts showed support for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). An October 2014 post, for example, included an image of a dead American soldier with the caption, "Thank you Islamic State! Now we wont have to deal with these kafir (Islamic term for "non-believers") back in America." Ciccolo pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, one count of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction, one count of being a convicted person in possession of firearms, and one count of assaulting a nurse during a jail intake process by use of a deadly weapon causing bodily injury. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release in connection with a plot to engage in terrorist activity inspired by ISIS.