New York (CNN) -- He came to London as a young man who loved the Western lifestyle, wanted to make money and have fun. "American style," smiled Abu Hamza al-Masri as he began his testimony Wednesday in his federal trial on terrorism charges. The 56-year-old Egyptian-born al-Masri worked as a bouncer and strip-club manager before bits of Islamic teachings from friends began to penetrate his mind, he testified. The hypocrisy of his lifestyle hit him like a slap in the face. Al-Masri would go on to become the high-profile imam of a London mosque and allegedly inspired several notorious terrorists with his sermons, including failed shoe bomber Richard Reid and 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta.
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Cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri tells court he went to London for "American style" fun
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He is on trial in federal court on terrorism-related charges
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Al-Masri backed a plan to establish terrorist training camp in Oregon, prosecutors say
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Al-Masri's lawyer said his client "never gave directions or orders to people"
Abu Hamza al-Masri
al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri
The government's three-week case has been an effort to connect the dots between @placeholder and events thousands of miles away from hi, through key witnesses who often had never met the defendant and are testifying as government informants in deals with the prosecution.