Excerpt:
A prosecutor looking out for her undercover officer got schooled in Islamic dress.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Sasso requested Thursday that Judge Sterling Johnson clear the court if an undercover informant ends up testifying in a case against two Queens women accused of building bombs for ISIS. Noelle Velentzas and Asia Siddique called themselves "bad bitches" before they were arrested in April 2015. But their defense teams have since raised the question of how much they were entrapped by a undercover officer who went so far as to print them a copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook.
The undercover—identified as going by "Melike Ser" in a Gothamist article about the NYPD's years-long surveillance program—is expected to be a key part of the government's case against Velentzas and Siddiqui. But Sasso asked that no one except family be allowed in the courtroom during her testimony, and that the public instead be allowed to listen to a live audio stream nearby.