‘Misha’ Speaks: An Interview with the Alleged Boston Bomber’s ‘Svengali’
As the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings continues, one of the more clouded aspects is the tale of Misha, a mysterious US-based Islamist who has been accused by members of the Tsarnaev family of radicalizing Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder of the two alleged bombers. It started in 2009. And it started right there, in Cambridge, Tamerlans uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, told CNN after the attacks. This person just took his brain. He just brainwashed him completely. These accusations set off a frenzied search for what some reports have called an Islamic Svengali, and over the past few days, the FBI has said it has located and has been talking to Misha, though his identity has remained unknown.
Today I was able to meet Misha, whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov. Having been referred by a family in Boston that was close to the Tsarnaevs, I found Allakhverdov at his home in Rhode Island, in a lower middle class neighborhood, where he lives in modest, tidy apartment with his elderly parents. He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings. I wasnt his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this, Allakhverdov said.
A thirty-nine-year-old man of Armenian-Ukrainian descent, Allakhverdov is of medium height and has a thin, reddish-blond beard. When I arrived he was wearing a green and white short-sleeve football jersey and pajama pants. Along with his parents, his American girlfriend was there, and we sat together in a tiny living room that abuts the family kitchen.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/apr/28/tamerlan-tsarnaev-misha-speaks/
The comment thread on the article is also interesting.