Cargo handler faces sentencing in plot against JFK

[February 17, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Prosecutors want a former cargo handler to spend the rest of his life behind bars for his role in a foiled terror plot against John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Russell DeFreitas was convicted last year on multiple conspiracy charges. His sentencing is set for Thursday in federal court in New York City. Federal authorities say DeFreitas was part of a terror cell that hatched a plot to blow up fuel tanks at Kennedy -- an attack meant to outdo the death and destruction of Sept. 11, 2001. He was arrested in 2007 after an informant infiltrated the scheme and recorded the plotters. Prosecutors have asked a judge to impose a life sentence on DeFreitas. His attorneys have argued he only deserves 15 years. [Associated Press; By TOM HAYS] Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.