The Miami-based Enrique Tarrio, 36, is the national chairman of the Proud Boys organization, whose members embrace street brawls and support physical confrontations against members of leftwing groups in the United States and Canada. Members of the Proud Boys participated in the infamous attack on the United States Capitol Complex on January 6, 2021. It has been reported that at least five members of the Proud Boys organization have been charged for participating in the attack. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal newspaper said that, in a post on the messaging application Telegram, Tarrio wrote: “What if we invade it?”. One of Tarrio’s thousands of followers on Telegram responded with “January 6th is D day in America”. However, the Reuters news agency said on Wednesday, according to information obtained from a former prosecutor, and based on a federal court proceeding involving Tarrio, it would appear that the Proud Boys leader has operated repeatedly as an undercover informant for local and federal law enforcement.
The transcript of the 2014 federal court proceeding shows that both Tarrio’s defense attorney and the prosecution asked the judge in the case to reduce his prison sentence. Their request was apparently based on Tarrio having provided the government with information that led to “the prosecution of 13 people on federal charges in two separate cases”. Tarrio’s lawyer at the time said that his client had “worked undercover in numerous investigations”, while an FBI special agent described him as “a key component” in investigations by local police. These claims appear to have been confirmed to Reuters by Vanessa Singh Johannes, a former federal prosecutor in a case involving Tarrio. She told Reuters that Tarrio had “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”.
It is not known at this time whether Tarrio has cooperated with law enforcement on cases involving the Proud Boys organization or other far-right groups and individuals. Reuters said Tarrio spoke to one of its reporters on Tuesday, and “denied working undercover or cooperating” with law enforcement. When he was relayed information from the transcript of the 2014 federal court proceeding, he told the Reuters journalist: “I don’t recall any of this […]. I don’t know any of this”.
Ian Alle
https://intelnews.org/2021/01/28/01-2946/
The transcript of the 2014 federal court proceeding shows that both Tarrio’s defense attorney and the prosecution asked the judge in the case to reduce his prison sentence. Their request was apparently based on Tarrio having provided the government with information that led to “the prosecution of 13 people on federal charges in two separate cases”. Tarrio’s lawyer at the time said that his client had “worked undercover in numerous investigations”, while an FBI special agent described him as “a key component” in investigations by local police. These claims appear to have been confirmed to Reuters by Vanessa Singh Johannes, a former federal prosecutor in a case involving Tarrio. She told Reuters that Tarrio had “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”.
It is not known at this time whether Tarrio has cooperated with law enforcement on cases involving the Proud Boys organization or other far-right groups and individuals. Reuters said Tarrio spoke to one of its reporters on Tuesday, and “denied working undercover or cooperating” with law enforcement. When he was relayed information from the transcript of the 2014 federal court proceeding, he told the Reuters journalist: “I don’t recall any of this […]. I don’t know any of this”.
Ian Alle
https://intelnews.org/2021/01/28/01-2946/
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