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The leader of the Proud Boys, a far-right group implicated in the Capitol Riot, went undercover to aid Miami Police and cooperated with the FBI in multiple investigations into illegal drugs and gambling, according to a court transcript.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, began working with the FBI after being arrested in 2013 on federal fraud charges relating to a scheme to sell stolen diabetic test strips well below market value, according to the transcript reviewed by NBC News.
“From the first day, it was he who wanted to speak to the police, wanted to erase his name, wanted to rectify the situation so that he could continue his life,” said a prosecutor to the judge during ‘a hearing after pleading guilty.
Pleading for a reduced sentence for Tarrio, the prosecutor said he helped federal law enforcement prosecute 13 other people in two separate indictments.
“He actually cooperated significantly,” the prosecutor said at the 2014 hearing.
The judge ultimately agreed to reduce Tarrio’s sentence from 30 months in prison to 16 months, according to court documents.
Messages left at the numbers listed for Tarrio, who had been arrested in Washington, DC just two days before the storming of the Capitol, were not returned. But in an interview with Reuters, which was the first to report his previous role as law enforcement cooperator, Tarrio denied working with the police.
“I don’t know any of this,” he said, asked about the transcript. “I don’t remember any of this.”
Tarrio was charged on January 4 with possessing two high-capacity gun magazines and destroying a Black Lives Matter sign at a historic church in the nation’s capital.
Several senior law enforcement officials said the FBI informed police of Tarrio’s presence in Washington.
At least five members of the Proud Boys have been accused of participating in the January 6 riot.
Tarrio’s role as a police cooperator predated the rise of the Proud Boys, which were formed in 2016. He became the national chairman of the group, which describes itself as “Western chauvinists,” in 2018.
There is no indication in public filings or transcripts that law enforcement officials were aware of any involvement Tarrio may have had in extremist groups. There is also no indication that he recently cooperated with federal or local law enforcement.
Tarrio’s role was not limited to helping the federal government, according to the transcript of the so-called section 35 hearing, which took place to allow the government to argue for a reduced sentence given his help in other investigations.
FBI Special Agent Rod Novales told the judge he was aware of Tarrio’s work with a Miami PD detective on an illegal gambling operation.
“I actually had a drive-through lookout with Henry Tarrio where he showed me the two places that were gambling illegal,” Novales told the court.
Tarrio’s attorney, Jeffrey Feiler, told the court his client had worked undercover in multiple investigations involving human trafficking, the sale of anabolic steroids and prescription narcotics.
Feiler said Tarrio was a “prolific” cooperator who put himself at risk in the smuggling business and “negotiated to pay the members of this ring $ 11,000 to bring in fictitious family members from a other country”.
But the FBI said nothing came of the contraband investigation.
Tarrio also worked with Miami Police and the Hialeah Police Department to dismantle a marijuana ring, his then lawyer told court. Tarrio’s cooperation led to several arrests and the raid on marijuana grow houses that generated a total of 100 pounds of marijuana, Feiler said.
The prosecutor in charge of the 2012 fraud case admitted that he had cooperated in the cultivation house case, but she said they never received a response from the police on the state of the ‘case, so he was not commended in their efforts to reduce his sentence.
Arriving on Wednesday, Feiler said he could not remember many details of the case. But he added: “What was presented to the judge was true to my knowledge and the information provided to me.”
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