The pattern is "hey buddy wanna do a crime?" followed by "Hey I happen to have all the resources you might possibly want in order to do a crime" accompanied by "might I suggest a target for this crime." This pattern usually starts with "those brown dudes over there are suspect". The classic example is the Liberty City Seven. If it's the FBI, though, the criming is clear-cut: "Hey, Randy - here's a shotgun, can you saw it off in violation of the NFA for me real quick? I'll give you $40." That's where the Liberty City Seven fell apart: "Hey, my name is Al Kayda and I would like to pay you fifty grand to blow up the Sears Tower. Also here's a bunch of guns and explosives." "Nice to meet you, Al, we're good on explosives and guns but we'd very much like your $50k." If the FBI is behind it, they don't fuck around with unclear shit. What would be the point? "Nail guns go through bulletproof glass, therefore intent will be really simple to establish in a court of law."