Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, leader of The Proud Boys, holds an US flags during a protest showing support for Cubans demonstrating against their government, in Miami, Florida on July 16, 2021. (Photo by EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images)
The Proud Boys’ former chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio has been hit with seven federal charges—including conspiracy—in connection with the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. Tarrio, who recently stepped down as leader of the far-right street-fighting gang, wasn’t actually present in Washington, D.C., during the riot. He’d been arrested two days earlier on his way into the nation’s capital for crimes committed during a rally in December, and under the conditions of his bond, was ordered to stay away from D.C. But as federal prosecutors note in the superseding indictment, docketed Tuesday morning, Tarrio didn’t immediately comply with the order to leave the city when he was bonded out on Jan. 5. After he was turned away from a hotel, he traveled to a nearby underground parking garage, where he met with Elmer Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, and others, for about 30 minutes. During that meeting, according to the indictment, one participant referenced the Capitol. Earlier this year, Rhodes was charged with conspiracy to commit sedition—the most serious charges to come out of the massive Jan. 6 prosecution effort. Tarrio’s name is now listed alongside other prominent Proud Boys who’ve already been charged, including Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Charles Donohoe, Dominic Pezzola, and Zachary Rehl. About 40 members of the Proud Boys have been charged for their part in Jan. 6.The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are the two extremist groups most represented among the hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants. Tarrio recently completed a five-month stint in a D.C. jail, after he was found guilty of burning a Black Lives Matter sign belonging to a historically Black church, and possession of a high-capacity magazine in violation of D.C. law. VICE News was unable to reach Tarrio, who lives in Miami, for comment.(Disclosure: Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, was a co-founder of VICE in 1994. He left the company in 2008 and has had no involvement since then.)
Advertisement