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Article updated: 3/7/2013 10:12 AM

Prosecutor: NY cannibal plotter was ready to act

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A passage from the federal complaint against Gilberto Valle, a New York City police officer charged with plotting to kidnap, cook and eat women. At Valle's conspiracy trial, the jury has heard that he was part of an international community of fetishists who got their kicks trading wild fantasies about violent acts against women. His lawyers say it was all harmless fantasy. The case is extreme, but experts say said it touches on a common challenge in law enforcement: deciphering intent without running afoul of the First Amendment.

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The FBI had to grab a New York City police officer last year before he could go forward with a macabre scheme to abduct and cannibalize women, a prosecutor said Thursday in closing arguments at the officer's kidnapping conspiracy trial. Officer Gilberto Valle was in the midst of a plot to "kidnap, torture, rape and commit other horrific acts" on at least six women he knew, including his wife, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hadassa Waxman told a Manhattan jury.