Terror plot ringleader gets 13-year prison term

MIAMI (AP) — The ringleader of a group of men convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices has been sentenced to 13½ years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard issued the sentence Friday in Miami for 35-year-old Narseal Batiste. Prosecutors had sought the maximum 70-year sentence.

Four other men convicted along with Batiste of terror-related charges in May were sent to prison but got less time than prosecutors sought.

The men were arrested in 2006 and accused of plotting attacks with an FBI informant posing as an al-Qaida operative. The conspiracy never progressed beyond talk.

Two other men were acquitted of similar charges

Batiste testified that he played along with terrorism in hopes of scamming $50,000 from the informant.