Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the Proud Boys, was convicted Thursday along with three other members of the group for preparing an attack on the US Capitol in 2022. The far-right extremist group was behind the commotion at the US Capitol in a desperate bid to retain Donald Trump in power after the Republicans lost the presidential election in 2020.
Tarrio and three other members of the gang were found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury in Washington, DC. The ruling came after the jury deliberated for more than three months on one of the most horrifying attacks in US history. The attack on the Capitol occurred on January 6, 2021, and the entire incident was broadcast live to the entire world.
Following the conviction of three members and the leader of the neo-fascist group Proud Boys for seditious conspiracy earlier today, the White House declined to comment on the case, stating that it does not want to “interfere.”
Tarrio was also found guilty of impeding Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory, obstructing law enforcement, and two other conspiracy offenses. Dominic Pezzola, the case’s fifth defendant, was found not guilty of sedition charges. He has, however, been convicted of other major offenses.
The Rise and Fall of Enrique Tarrio: From a Chicken Farm in Florida to the US Capitol Riot and Sedition Charges
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio describes himself as an activist who also served as an informant for the FBI. He was the previous chairman of Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist organization. It is a male-dominated organization that encourages and engages in political violence in the United States.
Tarrio was born in Miami, Florida, and was reared as a Catholic in Little Havana. He is of Cuban descent and considers himself an Afro-Cuban. He was the Florida state director of the grassroots group ‘Latinos for Trump.’
Tarrio ran in the Republican primary election for Florida’s 27th congressional district in 2020 but eventually dropped out.
According to a former federal prosecutor and transcripts of a 2014 federal court case, Tarrio acted as an informant for both federal and local law enforcement.
Tarrio was working on a chicken farm in a little hamlet in North Florida in 2004. He then returned to Miami to start a security equipment installation company and another GPS tracking company for businesses.
He also owns the 1776 Shop, a Miami T-shirt company that sells right-wing items online. The shop sells Proud Boys merchandise like t-shirts that declare “Pinochet did nothing wrong.” Augusto Jose Pinochet was a Chilean dictator who ruled the country between 1973 and 1990.
The Justice Department charged Tarrio with a conspiracy charge for his role in organizing the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Tarrio and four other members were indicted on more serious seditious conspiracy charges on June 6, 2022, according to the Justice Department.