The leader of the Proud Boys, an extremist right-wing extremist group involved in the riot in the Capitol, is at large to assist the police in Miami and has collaborated with the FBI in various investigations into drugs and illegal gambling.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, began working with the FBI after being arrested in 2013 on federal fraud charges related to a plan to sell stolen diabetic test strips far below market value, according to the transcript reviewed by NBC News has.
“From day one, he was the one who wanted to talk to law enforcement, wanted to clear his name, wanted to fix it so he could move on with his life,” a prosecutor told a judge during a court hearing. plead guilty.
In the case for a reduced sentence for Tarrio, the prosecutor said he helped federal law enforcement prosecute 13 other people in two separate charges.
“He actually cooperated in an important way,” the prosecutor said during the 2014 trial.
The judge finally agreed to reduce Tarrio’s sentence from 30 months in prison to 16 months, court documents show.
Tarrio, who was arrested just two days before the Capitol storms in Washington,’s messages were not returned. But in an interview with Reuters, who first reported his previous role as a law enforcement associate, Tarrio denied working with police.
“I know nothing about this,” he said when asked about the transcript. “I do not remember any of this.”
Tarrio was charged on January 4 with possession of two high-capacity gun magazines and the destruction of a Black Lives Matter board in a historic church in the country’s capital.
Several senior law enforcement officials say the FBI has fired police from Tarrio’s presence in Washington.
At least five members of the Proud Boys are charged with participating in the riot on January 6.
Tarrio’s role as a police officer was prior to the rise of the Proud Boys, which emerged in 2016. He became the national chairman of the group in 2018, describing himself as ‘Western chauvinists’.
There is no indication in the public records or transcripts that law enforcement officers were aware of any involvement Tarrio had in extremist groups. There is also no indication that he has recently collaborated with federal or local law enforcement.
According to the transcript of the so-called Rule 35 trial, which held Tarrio’s role, it was not just the help of the federations that was held to enable the government to address a reduced sentence, given his assistance in other investigations.
FBI Special Agent Rod Novales told the judge he was aware of Tarrio’s work with a Miami detective on an illegal gambling operation.
“In fact, I was supervising with Henry Tarrio where he showed me the two places that were engaged in illegal gambling,” Novales told the court.
Tarrio’s attorney at the time, Jeffrey Feiler, told the court that his client had worked undercover in various investigations into smuggling people, selling anabolic steroids and prescribing drugs.
Feiler said Tarrio was a “productive” employee who endangered himself in the smuggling case and “negotiated to pay $ 11,000 to members of the ring to bring in fictitious family members from another country. . ‘
But the FBI said nothing came of the smuggling investigation.
Tarrio also worked with Miami police and the Hialeah Police Department to break a marijuana ring, his then-attorney in court said. Tarrio’s collaboration led to several arrests and the raid on marijuana growing homes yielding 100 pounds of marijuana, Feiler said.
The prosecutor about the fraud case in 2012 admitted that he did cooperate in the nursery case, but she said that they never heard from the police about the status of the case, and he did not get credit for it in their attempt to reduce his sentence.
Reached Wednesday, Feiler said he did not remember much of the details of the case. But he added: “What the judge suggested was to the best of my knowledge and the information provided to me.”
