Father of terror suspect says his pizzeria is hurting
Saturday, May 12, 2007

COOKSTOWN(AP) -- The father of one of the six men described as radical Islamists and charged with plotting to massacre soldiers at Fort Dix says the business he's nurtured for years is all but ruined since his son's arrest.

Muslim Tatar, who has owned Super Mario's Pizza for five years, says that his lunchtime crowd from nearby McGuire Air Force Base and Fort Dix has largely disappeared, replaced by empty tables and nasty words from passing motorists.

"Now I am a target," the 52-year-old Tatar told The New York Times for today's newspapers, adding that his business is "99 percent dead."

Tatar's son, 23-year-old Serdar Tatar, was arrested Monday along with five others.

Authorities say the men were preparing to buy automatic weapons to use in an attack on Fort Dix when they were arrested. They targeted the Army post, which is 25 miles east of Philadelphia and primarily used to train reservists, partly because one of them had delivered pizzas there and was familiar with the base, according to court filings. Authorities said their objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible."