Within a wall of police checkpoints, investigators have erected a small, makeshift community of tents, mobile vans and trailers next to the Coast Guard station at East Moriches. FBI agents are working and living out of a Winnebago while ATF agents are using green Army tents.
Volunteers are a key part of the operation, participants say.
The American Red Cross, for example, has been feeding workers since the beginning, and local restaurants have been delivering food as well. Food is available 24 hours a day. The Hooters restaurant in Islandia sent its waitresses in tight shorts and T-shirts to the compound Friday afternoon bearing sandwiches, fried chicken and fruit. Before long, the women were wearing law enforcement hats from different agencies. Investigators and volunteers stopped occasionally to pet the Coast Guard station's mascot, a black Labrador retriever named Bud.