"A wealthy Manhattan real-estate investor is under investigation for ties to Osama bin Laden’s family after he tried to board a plane at Newark Airport with piano wire and a plastic knife, sources said yesterday.

Peter Williams, described by neighbors as a hot-tempered eccentric who conducts business from a bunker-like office, was busted Saturday as he was heading for a plane to Hawaii, the sources said.

The wire and knife were in his carry-on bag.

Following his arrest, investigators found that Williams had made several calls to a New Hampshire phone number that had been used to make calls to members of bin Laden’s family, which runs a $5 billion construction empire.

Members of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force were questioning Williams, but hadn’t charged him with any federal crime or connection to terror plots, the sources said.

“We still don’t know why he was heading to Hawaii with piano wire and a plastic knife,” a source said. [...]

He has a pilot’s license and owns his own plane, the sources said.

Neighbors said Williams has a hot temper and a cement-walled, windowless office at 33 Crosby St.

Since Williams is in real estate, it would not be unreasonable for him to have contacted members of bin Laden’s family, which owns the Saudi Binladen Group, a construction giant.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/54435.htm