NEW YORK (AP) – Two men identified as members of the Proud Boys are charged with federal conspiracy and other charges in the Capitol riot, while prosecutors are stepping up the game in some of the cases stemming from the January 6 uprising .
Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine who was seen by authorities in a video that smashed a Capitol window with a stolen riot shield from Capitol police, and William Pepe, who according to authorities was photographed inside the building, was arrested earlier this month on federal charges that included illegally. entering a restricted building. The two, both from the state of New York, have now been charged in Washington on charges that recently included conspiracy.
“The purpose of the conspiracy was to obstruct, obstruct, influence, impede and interfere with law enforcement officials defending their official duties to protect the U.S. Capitol and its territory,” the indictment reads, accusing Pezzola, Pepe and unnamed others of leading a group of people. Proud Boys and others to the Capitol and the relocation of police barricades there.
According to the indictment, which was filed in court Friday, Pezzola grabbed an officer’s shield and used it to break the window.
Pezzola’s lawyer Michael Scibetta said on Saturday he was investigating the charges but could not yet discuss the charge with his client, who is being held without bail. Pepe’s attorney, Shelli Peterson, declined to comment.
Three self-described members of a paramilitary group have been charged with conspiracy accused this month of plotting to attack the Capitol. But the new charges against Pezzola and Pepe appear to be the first conspiracy cases involving suspected members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group of self-described ‘Western chauvinists’.
Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, said in court Friday that Pezzola “showed perseverance, determination and coordination to be on the front line every step of the way before breaking into the Capitol,” and that she action to break the window and allow an initial group of rioters to flow through, ‘can not be overestimated.’
Pezzola was later seen on a video in the Capitol with a cigar, which he called a “victory smoke”, and boasted that he “knew we could take it over”, Sherwin wrote. He argued that the remarks showed that Pezzola “made a significant personal effort to take over the Capitol and that he did so in collaboration with others.”
According to prosecutors, an unknown witness told the FBI that Pezzola was with a group at the Capitol, whose members said they would have killed anyone they could get their hands on, including the speaker of the house. , Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence. The witness added that people in the group said they would return for the 20th time and kill everyone they could. The presidential inauguration was January 20th.
In a search of Pezzola’s home in Rochester, New York, FBI agents found a computer disk containing hundreds of files explaining how to make firearms, poisons or explosives, Sherwin wrote, arguing that Pezzola should still be held without bail. .
Pezzola, 43, served six years in the Marines as an infantryman and was discharged in 2005 as a corporal. His lawyer said his client is a self-employed person and a family man.
Pepe, 31, was photographed in the Capitol and later identified as a Metro North railroad worker who called in sick to go to Washington for a January 6 protest by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to a Jan. 11 criminal charges. Pepe, who lives in Beacon in the Hudson Valley in New York, has since been suspended from his job at the New York City commuter train without pay.
At Trump’s request, thousands of protesters flocked to the Capitol. Some then stormed it and temporarily suspended Congress’s certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Trump in the November election.
In all, federal authorities have charged more than 150 people in the siege of the Capitol.
The Justice Department said both Pepe and Pezzola went to the Proud Boys events and that they decorated tactical jackets with the group’s logo.
The group is known for violent confrontations with anti-fascists and other ideological opponents during protests. In a notable moment on the campaign last year, Trump told the group to ‘stand back and stand’ when asked during a debate in September whether he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups that turned up at some protests last summer.
Shortly before the Capitol riots, Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested in Washington and ordered to stay out of the city after being accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner in December. at a historic Black church.