A Case of Dumb Luck

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That find might only have started a months-long forensics process. In order to identify the vehicle, investigators feared that they might have to reconstruct an entire van from pieces scattered not only on the ramp but also at the bottom of the crater. Turning over the piece of metal, though, investigator Hanlin noticed a blackened but decipherable sequence of five numbers. They were part of the vehicle identification number stamped on various parts of vehicles to help police trace one that is stolen or wrecked in an accident. Experienced agents know that the identification numbers are actually codes that indicate the make, model and year of a car.

After extrapolating the full VIN from the fragment, the FBI contacted the Ford Motor Co., which checked its records and found that the vehicle was a yellow Ford Econoline E-350 van that had been sold to the Ryder Truck Rental Co. in Alabama. Ryder officials turned up the license plate XA70668 and reported that the van had been rented out of the company's Jersey City office. By Wednesday, only three days after the piece of metal had been found on the ramp, the FBI was in contact with Ryder officials in Jersey City, who had no difficulty remembering the van and its renter; he had been making a pest of himself.

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, Salameh rented the van for a week, putting down $400 in cash. Three days later -- and less than three hours after the Trade Center bombing -- Salameh showed up again and, presenting the keys as proof, claimed that the van had been stolen from a supermarket parking lot the night before and asked for his $400 back. He was told he would have to report the theft to the police. On Monday, March 1, Salameh came back, again asked for his $400 and once more was told he would have to present a police report of the theft.

The FBI would just as soon have watched Salameh for a while in the hope that he would lead them to other suspects. But news was starting to leak; by Wednesday night the FBI knew that New York Newsday was about to report that a rented van stolen in New Jersey was involved in the blast. James Fox, head of / the New York City FBI office, who coordinated much of the investigation, says his office considered asking Newsday to hold the story but decided not to because other papers and radio and TV stations had pieces of the story and the agency could not stop all of them.

Instead, the fbi decided to mount a sting. Over the phone early Thursday morning, Ryder agent Patrick Galasso told Salameh he could get some money even without a police report of the van's theft. A farcical scene followed. According to some reports, two TV-news trucks showed up before the suspect did; Connie Bello, a Ryder day manager, chased them away by telling them they had the wrong Ryder office. It is known that Salameh had in fact reported the supposed theft of the van to Jersey City police. By some accounts two Jersey cops also showed up at the Ryder office on Thursday morning, of all inconvenient times, to check out the complaint; Galasso had to go outside and warn them away. Finally, Salameh walked in and talked to an FBI agent posing as a Ryder official. The agent offered Salameh $200 in cash; Salameh loudly demanded more but finally took it and walked out. FBI agents followed and arrested him a block and a half away as he prepared to board a bus.