An appeals court has upheld the convictions of four men in a phony terror plot to blow up New York City synagogues.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan made the decision public on Friday.

The defense had argued the men were harmless dupes led astray by an FBI informant who infiltrated a mosque. Prodded by the informant, one of the men hatched the scheme to blow up the synagogues in the Bronx and to shoot down military cargo planes with missiles.

The appeals court found that the government’s tactics didn’t rise to the level of “outrageous misconduct.”

The men — James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen — were arrested in 2009. They were each convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

(AP)