The brothers. Michele R. McPhee / University Press of New England / mediadrumworld.com

By Rebecca Drew

ON THE EVE of the US release of Jake Gyllenhaal blockbuster, Stronger, about one man’s road to recovery after the Boston Marathon bombings, the incredible story behind the public facts of the event has been unravelled in a new book examining the terrorists’ ties to the FBI.

Disturbing black-and-white images show the devastating aftermath of the attack, as strangers scrambled to help each other and the exact spot where Tamerlan Tsarnaev died. Another picture shows a photo taken from a CCTV camera inside the Forum restaurant of the detonation.

Detononation from a surveillance photo inside the Forum restaurant. Michele R. McPhee / University Press of New England / mediadrumworld.com

The 2013 bombings were carried out by Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar who planted explosives near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Tamerlan was hired by the FBI as a mosque crawler to inform on radical separatists despite being on terrorist watch lists.

The story has been unveiled in a new book called, Maximum Harm: The Tsarnaev Brothers, the FBI, and the Road to the Marathon Bombing, by investigative journalist Michele R. McPhee and is published by University Press of New England.

“I believe that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was made a promise. You help us, the government told him, by becoming an informant and we will help you become a citizen. He fulfilled his promise of informing on radical Islamic jihadi in the US and Russia for various agencies tasked with countering violent extremism,” said Michele.

Roseann Sdoia in a stranger’s arms. Michele R. McPhee / University Press of New England / mediadrumworld.com

“When he returned from Russia in 2012 – after traveling there with ease from US while on two terror watch lists – the promise of citizenship was started but there were delays and he felt betrayed.

“Both brothers lived in a house festooned with black flags often associated with jihad, had celebrated the deaths of US Marines, and Dzhokhar had bragged to his friend that he knew how to build a bomb.

“He was not the hapless little brother he was often portrayed as in the press, he was a believer in radical Islam.”

The Tsarnaev family. Michele R. McPhee / University Press of New England / mediadrumworld.com

The bombings on Boylston Street on April 15, 2013 killed three people and injured hundreds more, 16 people lost limbs. Tamerlan Tsarnaev is believed to have killed Police Officer, Sean Collier and died on April 19, 2013. His brother, Dzhokhar was arrested and sentenced to death following trial.

Michele says that she is still investigating the events surrounding the bombings.

“On the night that MIT Police Officer Sean Collier was killed there were multiple encounters between the FBI and Cambridge Police in the hours before the officer was executed in cold blood,” she added.

Michele R. McPhee / University Press of New England / mediadrumworld.com

“Local law enforcement believed that the FBI knew who the brothers were before Collier’s murder. I set out to prove it.

“I went down avenues, alleys and everywhere else to get information. I am still digging.

“The government has said on the record that the Tsarnaev brothers did not build those deadly bombs, created, prosecutors said, to inflict Maximum Harm. Then who did?”

Inside the cruiser of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, April 18, 2013. Michele R. McPhee / University Press of New England / mediadrumworld.com

Maximum Harm: The Tsarnaev Brothers, the FBI, and the Road to the Marathon Bombing by Michele R. McPhee is published by University Press of New England and is available to pre-order ahead of its release later this month for £29.00 RRP