Crime & Safety

Prosecutor: Synagogue Attacks Suspect Eyed SJ School for 'Project Anarchy'

An investigation shows a West Berlin school was targeted by Aakash Dalal, now jailed on $2.5 million for inciting synagogue firebombs in North Jersey.

The 19-year-old New Brunswick man charged in connection with a series of anti-Semitic attacks on North Jersey synagogues had a blueprint of a Camden County school marked for another attack and labeled “Project Anarchy,” according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

The school, John F. Kennedy Memorial Elementary School, is in Berlin Township, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli confirmed Wednesday night. West Berlin is a section of Berlin Township to the east of Gloucester Township.

Investigators found the blueprints of the school during a search of Aakash Dalal’s apartment, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney said at a bail hearing Wednesday, according to the NorthJersey.com report.

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Prosecutors did not say how Dalal may have obtained the blueprints or why he allegedly focused on the Camden County school. There was no record of any related charges being filed against Dalal, a Camden County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman said Wednesday afternoon.

Bergen County prosecutors , of Lodi, to firebomb synagogues in Paramus and Rutherford. In , prosecutors say Graziano tossed Molotov cocktails through a bedroom window while the rabbi and his family slept.

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Dalal instructed Graziano on how to make firebombs used in the arson spree, prosecutors said. Transcripts of online chats, released by prosecutors, seem to indicate Graziano was trying to impress Dalal.

"Basically no damage," Dalal allegedly wrote after one attack in Paramus did little damage. "It did nothing. You haven't proven yourself."

"So how much damage would be acceptable?" Graziano allegedly asked.

"Serious damage," Dalal allegedly responded. "Or total burnage."

Dalal’s defense attorney, Chris DeLorenzo, said his client was being prosecuted for “malicious words,” the northjersey.com report said.

A judge rejected a defense move to have Dalal’s $2.5 million bail lowered at Wednesday’s hearing. He remained held at the Bergen County Jail on charges including aggravated arson, criminal mischief and bias intimidation.

Dalal and Graziano also spray painted anti-Semitic graffiti on in December, prosecutors say.

The attacks and promoted police to beef up security at . 

Dalal and Graziano have pleaded not guilty.


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