Part American and part Pakistani, the Chicago man accused of conspiring in the bloody terrorist attacks in Mumbai has followed a twisted trail through two different worlds.

David Coleman Headley grew up in two countries and ended up with two names. A troubled young man, he dropped out of school, was convicted of heroin smuggling and ended up broke and jobless.

But it was in a bleak apartment on Chicago's North Side where prosecutors say Headley emerged with a secret identity _ an international terrorist accused of helping plan the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, that left 166 dead.

"Call me old-fashioned, but I feel disposed towards violence for the offending parties," Headley allegedly wrote on a Web site, referring to people he believed had defiled the sacred name of Islam. He was angered by a Danish newspaper that featured a series of cartoons, one showing the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

"They never started debates with folks who slandered our Prophet, they took violent action," Headley wrote, according to federal court documents. "Even if God doesn't give us the opportunity to bring our intentions to fruition, we will claim ajr (a religious award) for it."

Headley was charged Monday with conspiring in the planning of the November 2008 attacks. Prosecutors accused him of scouting out targets, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Cafe, a landmark called Nariman House and a large railroad station, all of which were struck by terrorists.

The 49-year-old Headley was scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday. He could get the death penalty if convicted. Authorities in Washington say he is cooperating with the government.

Headley also is charged with planning an armed attack on the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, which published a dozen cartoons in 2005 that depicted the Prophet Muhammad and set off protests in the Muslim world.

According to the government, Headley dubbed the cartoon-related attack "the Mickey Mouse project." His attorneys have declined to comment.

Headley grew up both in the United States and Pakistan, the son of an American mother and a Pakistani father. By his teen years, he already had developed strong feelings about Islam, according to Lorenzo Lacovara, who helped Headley's mother open a bar in Philadelphia in the 1970s.

"He was all full of himself and thought that Islam was the greatest thing since sliced bread. He was full of contempt," Lacovara says. "He was fully convinced that it was the 14th century and that it was time for Islam to take over the world. It sounded a lot like teenage bravado, but I think he became a lot more serious."