West Village Bombing Couple Pleads the Fireworks Defense
Aaron Greene, one half of New York City's most spoiled bombing suspects, has finally spoken out on his arrest — and, well, he may just be playing the tabloids... and us. In addition to claiming his shotguns were for "hunting and fishing," he seems to be pleading the New Year's defense: "It was a very small amount of experimental fireworks," Greene, speaking about the explosive charges against him and his privileged girlfriend from prison at Rikers Island, told The New York Post's Kevin Fasick and Dan Magnan. His Park Avenue-bred partner in alleged crime, Morgan Gliedman, was last reported to be resting with her newborn baby and has not yet spoken publicly, but Greene seems to be connecting the "experimental fireworks" with the explosive HMTD material New York police found in their West Village apartment last weekend.
And, well, it's kind of hard to believe the couple was just futzing around with fireworks before New Year's Eve, given that the cops also reportedly found manuals like The Do It Yourself Submachine Gun and The Terrorist Encyclopedia. (Also: it's really easy to just go on About.com and find out how to make a fireworks project, if you're feeling experimental.)
And guns. They had guns. In addition to the explosives, Greene and Gliedman were in possession of two shotguns at the time of the arrest. And during one of his previous run-ins with the law, officers found a .223 caliber rifle in his trunk. To those, Greene says: "I'm a sportsman, an outdoorsman. Hunting and fishing."
