Chicago center of numerous U.S. terror cases

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Federal court records compiled by the I-Team reveal at least 20 major terror cases with links to Chicago in the last 15 years.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Chicago has been at the center of the U.S. terror universe. The roster of accused jihadists includes nearly two dozen people who are from Chicago, interested in targeting Chicago or both.

Even as law enforcement in New York City tried Tuesday to figure out the backstory of the latest bombings there, the terror landscape in Chicago was dotted with radicalized men and some women who want to do us harm.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Chicago sentenced two cousins, Jonas and Hasan Edmonds, to lengthy prison terms after they were charged in March in a planned terror plot.

Hasan Edmonds, a former Illinois National Guard specialist from Aurora, had plotted to kill as many as 150 people in a terrorist attack at the Joliet Armory where he trained. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. His cousin was sentenced to 21 years.

They are among 20 major terror suspects charted by the I-Team, many of whom have pleaded guilty and are serving federal prison time, including the first man charged in June 2002. Jose Padilla is a former

Chicagoan arrested at O'Hare International Airport in connection with an al-Qaida plot to detonate a "dirty" radioactive bomb.

Two of the most prolific Chicago terrorists -- David Headley and Tahawwur Rana -- actually saw their plans carried out: the 2008 Mumbai massacre in India, during which 164 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in a several-day siege.

Other notable Chicago terrorists plotted to blow up the former Sears Tower; stage a blast outside Wrigley Field; and attack downtown and suburban nightclubs. Many of the suspects traveled to Al-Qaeda training centers in foreign countries to learn their craft.

Two Chicago terror suspects are still fighting in court, while being held without bond.

Adel Daoud arrested four years ago when he was a teenager still hasn't been put on trial and has been locked up-mostly in solitary confinement at a federal prison in Chicago.

On Tuesday, Daoud was in federal court attempting to secure a bed in a federal prison hospital for psychiatric treatment.

The other terror suspect Bosnia native Mediha Medy Salkicevic, a Schiller Park mother who is accused of sending money and supplies to the Islamic State and Al-Qaida. She is being held in St. Louis with alleged accomplices from Rockford and Missouri.

They are among dozens of immigrants whom authorities say harbor sympathies for ISIS, then act on them. The cases piling up in the Midwest include American teenagers who have been seduced by waves of internet propaganda.

Most attack plans are derailed by police and federal officers, though they say some squeak through, such as Ahmad Khan Rahami in New York over the weekend.