Esteemed bin Laden family network spans globe

NEW YORK -- One brother owns several condos with stunning views of the Boston Harbor. Another is Brazil's representative to Saudi Arabia. A third was a jet setter and business magnate with a penchant for blue jeans.

Their name -- bin Laden -- once was as esteemed as the Rockefeller's in some circles. But for many the world over, it has been irrevocably tarnished since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that the United States blames on Osama bin Laden, the outcast among 54 siblings born to Mohammed Awad bin Laden and his wives.

For several decades, the extended Saudi family spread its charm, influence and wealth across the globe -- attending top universities in the West, donating to an alma mater and reportedly hobnobbing with former U.S. presidents.

Helping to run a corporate empire with as much as $5 billion in annual sales, leading family members embraced the capitalist culture so reviled by Osama. They repeatedly tried to distance themselves from his terrorist activities -- with dimming success.

After Osama became the prime suspect in the attacks, more than 20 family members, mostly his nieces and nephews, were urgently evacuated from the United States on Sept. 20 because some feared reprisals from Americans, family spokesman Tim Metz said.

"This was like having Rockefeller as your name. From their biggest asset, it went to being their biggest liability," said Adil Najam, a professor at Boston University specializing in Muslim politics.

The bin Laden name was launched into renown by patriarch Mohammed Awad bin Laden, who immigrated from Yemen to Saudi Arabia in 1925. Though he couldn't read or write, he formed a Saudi company in 1931 that grew into a major conglomerate making roads, bridges and other structures across the Middle East.

As business extended into more countries and industry sectors, Mohammed spread responsibility among some of his 54 children.

Though Mohammed became one of the world's richest men, he was unassuming and "didn't act rich," recalled Gerry Auerbach of Texas, a pilot who flew the father's private plane around Saudi Arabia between 1966 and 1967.

"The family and the people who worked for him all loved him," Auerbach said. "He had a sense of humor."

Mohammed was killed in 1968 when his plane, flown by another pilot, crashed in the mountains of southwestern Saudi Arabia. Osama, then about 11 years old, later inherited at least an estimated $50 million.

The business was taken over by Salem, the oldest brother of Osama, who was British-educated and spoke fluent English, recalled Wayne Fagan, a former family lawyer and friend of Salem.

Fun-loving and gregarious, Salem wore jeans or slacks when jetting around the world to run businesses on three continents -- but switched to traditional white robes when in Saudi Arabia.

Salem was a workaholic who unwound at a tranquil home in the English countryside and at another one, which lacked phones, on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, Fagan recalled.

An avid pilot, Salem was killed in 1988 when his lightweight plane crashed into power lines in San Antonio, Texas, where he occasionally conducted business.

Control of the conglomerate shifted to Bakr, another brother. Osama, meanwhile, became increasingly estranged from his family and from Saudi Arabia, which revoked his citizenship in the early 1990s after he was caught smuggling weapons from Yemen.

As Osama was tied to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the embassy bombings in Africa in 1998, the family issued statements disassociating themselves from him -- and went on with business.