men might make before boarding their flights. Authorities arranged the arrests to take place out of sight of other passengers, to avoid panic. Authorities decided that the best place for each arrest would be at the end of the jetway, by the emergency door, and that cars would await the agents and suspects below. As each suspect walked down the passageway from the gate to the plane, passengers behind him were held up. Out of sight of those on the plane and those waiting to board, each was confronted by federal agents. Alessa put up a fight, was pushed into a jetway wall, and suffered a red welt on his left temple and cuts on his face before he was handcuffed. Agents took him down the outside stairs to a waiting security car, and transported him to their facility. The 220-pound Almonte also reportedly resisted arrest, but was similarly apprehended. The Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) coordinated the arrests. JTTF agents were in place near the suspects' New Jersey homes before the arrests. As soon as the men were taken into custody, dozens of agents raided the two homes, taking away boxes of evidence. Federal counterterrorism officials said the investigation was ongoing, and that more arrests were anticipated. Suspects The parents have characterized the men as "troublemakers" and school records of them document a history of behavioral problems, threats and violence. Mohamed Mahmood Alessa Alessa was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Palestinian and Jordanian immigrant parents. He has dual United States-Jordanian citizenship, was living in North Bergen, New Jersey, and was 20 years old at the time of his arrest. After the September 11, 2001, attacks when other families on his block displayed American flags, his home hung a Palestinian flag. A neighbor, Luis Lainez, said: "not ... very patriotic, that puts up a red flag at the end of the day." Alessa reportedly began to tell other children in his Boy Scout troop that Osama bin Laden was a hero in his family, and that he wanted to grow up to be a martyr. When other boys and their parents complained, he was asked to leave the group. As a teenager, he began to spend time with a gang who called themselves the P.L.O., after the Palestinian group, or the Arabian Knights. Alessa's parents sent him for the ninth grade to the Al-Huda High School, a private