Exclusive: Proud Boys leader was ‘prolific’ informer for law enforcement — Reuters
reuters.com
Exclusive: Proud Boys leader was ‘prolific’ informer for law enforcement
Aram Roston
6-8 minutes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012, according to a former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding obtained by Reuters.
Members of the far-right Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio (C), rally in support of President Trump to protest against the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in Washington, November 14, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
In the Miami hearing, a federal prosecutor, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Tarrio’s own lawyer described his undercover work and said he had helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in various cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling.
Tarrio, in an interview with Reuters Tuesday, denied working undercover or cooperating in cases against others. “I don’t know any of this,” he said, when asked about the transcript. “I don’t recall any of this.”
Law-enforcement officials and the court transcript contradict Tarrio’s denial. In a statement to Reuters, the former federal prosecutor in Tarrio’s case, Vanessa Singh Johannes, confirmed that “he cooperated with local and federal law enforcement, to aid in the prosecution of those running other, separate criminal enterprises, ranging from running marijuana grow houses in Miami to operating pharmaceutical fraud schemes.”
Tarrio, 36, is a high-profile figure who organizes and leads the right-wing Proud Boys in their confrontations with those they believe to be Antifa, short for “anti-fascism,” an amorphous and often violent leftist movement. The Proud Boys were involved in the deadly insurrection at the Capitol January 6.
The records uncovered by Reuters are startling because they show that a leader of a far-right group now under intense scrutiny by law enforcement was previously an active collaborator with criminal investigators.
Washington police arrested Tarrio in early January when he arrived in the city two days before the Capitol Hill riot. He was charged with possessing two high-capacity rifle magazines, and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a December demonstration by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The D.C. Superior Court ordered him to leave the city pending a court date in June.
Though Tarrio did not take part in the Capitol insurrection, at least five Proud Boys members have been charged in the riot. The FBI previously said Tarrio’s earlier arrest was an effort to preempt the events of January 6.
The transcript from 2014 shines a new light on Tarrio’s past connections to law enforcement. During the hearing, the prosecutor and Tarrio’s defense attorney asked a judge to reduce the prison sentence of Tarrio and two co-defendants. They had pleaded guilty in a fraud case related to the relabeling and sale of stolen diabetes test kits.
The prosecutor said Tarrio’s information had led to the prosecution of 13 people on federal charges in two separate cases, and had helped local authorities investigate a gambling ring.
Tarrio’s then-lawyer Jeffrey Feiler said in court that his client had worked undercover in numerous investigations, one involving the sale of anabolic steroids, another regarding “wholesale prescription narcotics” and a third targeting human smuggling. He said Tarrio helped police uncover three marijuana grow houses, and was a “prolific” cooperator.
In the smuggling case, Tarrio, “at his own risk, in an undercover role met and negotiated to pay $11,000 to members of that ring to bring in fictitious family members of his from another country,” the lawyer said in court.
In an interview, Feiler said he did not recall details about the case but added, “The information I provided to the court was based on information provided to me by law enforcement and the prosecutor.”
An FBI agent at the hearing called Tarrio a “key component” in local police investigations involving marijuana, cocaine and MDMA, or ecstasy. The Miami FBI office declined comment.
There is no evidence Tarrio has cooperated with authorities since then. In interviews with Reuters, however, he said that before rallies in various cities, he would let police departments know of the Proud Boys’ plans. It is unclear if this was actually the case. He said he stopped this coordination after December 12 because the D.C. police had cracked down on the group.
Tarrio on Tuesday acknowledged that his fraud sentence was reduced, from 30 months to 16 months, but insisted that leniency was provided only because he and his co-defendants helped investigators “clear up” questions about his own case. He said he never helped investigate others.
That comment contrasts with statements made in court by the prosecutor, his lawyer and the FBI. The judge in the case, Joan A. Lenard, said Tarrio “provided substantial assistance in the investigation and prosecution of other persons involved in criminal conduct.”
As Trump supporters challenged the Republican’s election loss in often violent demonstrations, Tarrio stood out for his swagger as he led crowds of mostly white Proud Boys in a series of confrontations and street brawls in Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and elsewhere.
The Proud Boys, founded in 2016, began as a group protesting political correctness and perceived constraints on masculinity. It grew into a group with distinctive colors of yellow and black that embraced street fighting. In September their profile soared when Trump called on them to “Stand back and stand by.”
Tarrio, based in Miami, became the national chairman of the group in 2018.
In November and December, Tarrio led the Proud Boys through the streets of D.C. after Trump’s loss. Video shows him on December 11 with a bullhorn in front of a large crowd. “To the parasites both in Congress, and in that stolen White House,” he said. “You want a war, you got one!” The crowd roared. The next day Tarrio burned the BLM banner.
Former prosecutor Johannes said she was surprised that the defendant she prosecuted for fraud is now a key player in the violent movement that sought to halt the certification of President Joe Biden.
“I knew that he was a fraudster – but had no reason to know that he was also a domestic terrorist,” she said.
Reporting by Aram Roston in Washington. Editing by Ronnie Greene
forever documented in the NYTimes
Proud Boys Leader Secretly Cooperated With F.B.I. and Police
Proud Boys Leader Secretly Cooperated With F.B.I. and Police
Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the far-right nationalist group, which is under increasing scrutiny for its role in the Capitol riot, helped to convict more than a dozen people.
Published Jan. 27, 2021Updated Jan. 28, 2021, 1:35 a.m. ET
Enrique Tarrio, who took over leadership of the Proud Boys three years ago, has a criminal history dating to at least 2004. Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist group that is a major target of the sprawling investigation into the riot at the Capitol this month, has a history of cooperating with law enforcement, according to court records and a former prosecutor.
The stunning revelation that Mr. Tarrio, who leads one of the country’s most notorious extremist groups, helped the F.B.I. and local police departments go after more than a dozen criminal defendants about a decade ago was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday.
The news emerged as Mr. Tarrio himself has fallen under scrutiny for his role in encouraging the Proud Boys to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, after which a mob of hundreds broke into the Capitol, disrupting the final certification of the presidential election.
“Mr. Tarrio was a cooperator — like many who seek to provide information and try to obtain substantial assistance,” the former prosecutor, Vanessa S. Johannes, wrote in an email.
The court transcript, which documents a hearing in 2014 where Mr. Tarrio sought to reduce his own sentence in a fraud case, shows that he helped law enforcement officers in his home state, Florida, to investigate and prosecute criminal enterprises, including an illegal gambling business, a marijuana grow lab, an operation that sold anabolic steroids and an immigrant smuggling ring.
Mr. Tarrio did not respond to messages from The New York Times seeking comment, but he denied to Reuters that he had ever worked undercover or cooperated with law enforcement.
“I don’t know any of this,” he said. “I don’t recall any of this.”
Mr. Tarrio, 36, has been a focus of the F.B.I.’s enormous inquiry into the Capitol attack, which has led so far to more than 150 arrests, including those of at least six members of the Proud Boys. The group of self-described “Western chauvinists” has a history of scuffling in street fights with left-wing antifascist activists and has made a name for itself in recent years for its vocal — and often violent — support of former President Donald J. Trump.
Although Mr. Tarrio went to Washington earlier this month, he was arrested by the local police on suspicion of burning a Black Lives Matter banner torn from one of the city’s Black churches during a separate round of protests in December.
After he was thrown out of the city by a judge, he posted messages online encouraging the Proud Boys to attend the rally on Jan. 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 lieutenants, Joseph Biggs, who was arrested last week.
Mr. Tarrio’s criminal history reaches 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 had stolen from a truck in Kentucky and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. “He was kind of 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 Mr. Tarrio’s sentence, arguing that his client had cooperated “in a significant way” in two other federal cases, leading to the prosecution of 13 people. Mr. Feiler also noted that Mr. Tarrio had worked undercover for police departments in Miami and Hialeah, at times putting himself at risk.
“I find that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation and prosecution of other persons involved in criminal conduct,” the judge in Mr. Tarrio’s case, Joan A. Lenard, ruled.
She ultimately cut his sentence to 16 months.
While there is no evidence that Mr. Tarrio has continued to help the authorities fight crime, Mr. Feiler believed at the time that his client was good at it.
“Frankly, in all the years, which is now more than 30 that I’ve been doing this,” he said at the hearing, “I’ve never had a client as prolific in terms of cooperating in any respect.”
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