Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist group that is a key target for the extensive investigation into the uprising at the Capitol this month, said according to court documents and a former law enforcement co-operation. prosecutor.
The wonderful revelation that Mr. Tarrio, who leads one of the country’s most notorious extremist groups, helped the FBI and local police departments track down more than a dozen criminal accused more than a decade ago, was reported for the first time by Reuters on Wednesday.
The news appeared when Mr. Tarrio himself came under the spotlight for his role in encouraging the Proud Boys to attend a “Stop the Steal” gathering in Washington on January 6, after which a crowd of hundreds broke into the Capitol, killing the final disrupted. certification of the presidential election.
“Mr Tarrio was a collaborator – like many people who want to provide information and try to get substantial help,” former prosecutor Vanessa S. Johannes wrote in an email.
The court transcript, which documents a trial in 2014 where Mr. Tarrio wanted to reduce his own sentence in a fraud case, showing that he helped law enforcement in his home state, Florida, investigate and prosecute criminal enterprises, including illegal gambling. business, a marijuana lab, an operation that sells anabolic steroids, and an immigrant smuggling ring.
Mr. Tarrio did not respond to messages from The New York Times to comment, but denied to Reuters that he had ever worked under secrets or cooperated with law enforcement.
“I know nothing about this,” he said. “I do not remember any of this.”
Mr. Tarrio, 36, was a focal point of the FBI’s enormous investigation into the Capitol attack, which has so far led to more than 150 arrests, including those of at least six members of the Proud Boys. The self-described group of “Western chauvinists” have a history of struggling in street fights with left-wing anti-fascist activists and have made a name for themselves in recent years for their outspoken – and often violent – support of former President Donald J. Trump. .
Although Mr. Tarrio is in Washington earlier this month, he was arrested by local police on suspicion of tearing a Black Lives Matter banner from a separate black church in the city during a separate protest in December.
After being thrown out of town by a judge, he posted messages online to encourage the Proud Boys to attend the event on January 6, not in their typical black-and-yellow polo shirts, but instead “incognito”. Federal agents cited the messages in their criminal complaint against one of Mr. Tarrio’s top lieutenant, Joseph Biggs, who was arrested last week.
Mr. Tarrio’s criminal history dates back to at least 2004 when he was convicted of stealing a $ 50,000 motorcycle. In 2012, he was charged with fraud in Miami in connection with a scheme to sell loads of diabetes test kits that co-defendants stole from a truck in Kentucky and sentenced to 30 months in prison. “He was like the marketing person,” his lawyer, Jeffrey Feiler, said at the time.
In July 2014, Mr. Feiler went to court to ask a federal judge to reduce Tarrio’s sentence, arguing that his client “cooperated significantly” in two other federal cases, leading to the prosecution of 13 people. Mr. Feiler also noted that Tarrio worked undercover for Miami and Hialeah police departments, sometimes endangering himself.
“I find that the accused provided substantial assistance in the investigation and prosecution of other persons involved in criminal proceedings,” the judge in the case of Mr. Tarrio, Joan A. Lenard, certainly.
She eventually suspended his sentence to 16 months.
Although there is no evidence that Mr. Tarrio continued to help the authorities fight crime, Feiler believed at the time that his client was fine with it.
“Honestly, in all the years I’ve been doing more than thirty now,” he said during the trial, “I have never had a client who was so productive in any way.”