Chicago-Raised ‘Good Son’ Found Trouble As Adult
By Ray Quintanilla, David Kidwell and James Janega, Chicago Tribune
Jun. 24–Growing up in Chicago, Narseal Batiste was raised in a strict household, attended a well-known Catholic high school and joined the Guardian Angels group.
His father says he doesn’t recognize the man described by the FBI as the ringleader in a plot to attack the Sears Tower and other buildings.
“I don’t know how he wound up in all this mess,” said Narcisse Batiste, 72. “My son was brought up under strict supervision, and he’s a good person. I taught him how to work hard and be honest. I sent him to Catholic school and high school.”
Public records and interviews show that as an adult, Narseal Batiste, 32, spent years battling financial troubles and had violent run-ins that included a street fight in North Miami this spring.
According to a federal indictment, Batiste led a group he called “soldiers” in an “Islamic army” in a “full ground war” against the United States.
“I believe my husband is innocent of all the accusations against him,” said his wife, Minerva Batiste, 34.
Narseal Batiste told his father in 1994 that he was “joining the Muslims” and converting to Islam. The two rarely talked about it afterward, he said.
A close friend of one of the men indicted in the plot said Batiste’s teachings came from the Moorish Science Temple of America, an early 19th-Century religion that blends Christianity, Judaism and Islam with a heavy influence on self-discipline through martial arts.
One friend described Batiste as a “Moses-like” figure who would roam the neighborhood in odd clothing, carrying a crooked wooden cane as he recruited young men.
Others said he was a martial arts devotee who sometimes wore camouflage and led his followers through late-night physical exercises.
Narcisse Batiste said he and his wife raised five of their six children on Chicago’s Far South Side in the West Pullman neighborhood. Narseal Batiste attended Brother Rice High School for two years, before transferring to the Chicago Public Schools, his father said. Officials at Brother Rice could not be reached Friday evening to confirm that.
Narseal Batiste avoided trouble as a young man, his father said in a telephone interview from his home in Bunkie, La.
“He used to be a Guardian Angel. He would ride the bus and make sure everyone was fine,” his father said. “He was real proud of that.”
The family had roots in Chicago going back to 1952, but in 1995 moved to Marksville, La., a community 75 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, where Narcisse Batiste was hired as pastor of Morning Star Worship Center and at the Second Union Baptist Church nearby.
Around the same time, Narseal Batiste was taken to court over $2,200 owed to a property management company in Chicago. In 2001, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing his occupation as a FedEx delivery driver on the Southwest Side who kept only $44 a month after paying bills and thousands in debts to utility companies, collection agencies and creditors.
Driver’s license records with the Illinois secretary of state’s office show he moved to Indiana in April 2002. Records in Florida show he and his wife opened a North Miami business, Azteca Stucco & Masonry Inc., in March 2004.
Before Thursday’s arrest, Batiste’s most recent brush with authorities was late on March 5, when a couple told police they had been beaten by Batiste and Patrick Abraham in a dispute over a parking space in North Miami. Abraham was another of the men named Friday in the indictment.
As Roger Davis, 32, tried to park in front of his home about 11:30 p.m., he was confronted by Batiste and Abraham, he said. Batiste punched Davis in the face and knocked him to the ground, according to the police report.
Batiste and Abraham then began to stomp on Davis’ head with their feet, according to police. Davis’ girlfriend was punched in the face when she tried to stop them, according to North Miami police.
“They went a little crazy on us,” Davis said in a telephone interview Friday.
According to the police report, Davis’ girlfriend retrieved his 9 mm handgun from the car and handed it to Davis, who told police he fired four rounds into the air, scaring off Batiste and Abraham. The two later were charged by police with felony aggravated battery.
In 1993, Batiste was arrested in Chicago on charges of misdemeanor criminal damage to a vehicle. He was 19 and gave a home address in the 11600 block of South Loomis Street, said police spokesman Patrick Camden.
Batiste pleaded guilty to the charge and received a year of supervision.
Many family members remain in the Chicago area.
According to several tax liens, civil suits and bankruptcy filings on file in Cook County, members of Batiste’s family have worked under several different corporations in the Chicago area as flooring, masonry, ceramic tile and interior design contractors for many years.
dkidwell@tribune.com
rquintanilla@tribune.com
Tribune staff reporters Aamer Madhani, David Mendell, David Heinzmann, Charles Sheehan, Angela Rozas, and Tribune wire serv
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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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