Court documents indicate that the US leader of the right-wing Proud Boys group worked as an informant for the FBI almost a decade ago — an accusation Enrique Tarrio denies.
A former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding in Miami, obtained by Reuters, said the Cuban-American helped the FBI bust drug, gambling and human-smuggling rings in Florida after he was arrested in 2012.
“I don’t know any of this,” Tarrio declared to Reuters in an interview on Tuesday when asked about the transcript. “I don’t recall any of this.”
But the former Federal prosecutor in the case has contradicted Tarrio's claims. “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,” noted Vanessa Singh Johannes.
The prosecutor said Tarrio’s information led to the prosecution of 13 people on federal charges in two separate cases, and helped local law enforcement identify a gambling ring.
Tarrio’s attorney in the 2014 case, Jeffrey Feiler, noted that his former client worked undercover in several investigations, one involving the sale of anabolic steroids, another regarding “wholesale prescription narcotics” and a third targeting human smuggling. He said Tarrio helped police bust three marijuana cultivation dens, and was a “prolific” informant.
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” in the smuggling case, Feiler said.
Tarrio's Proud Boys group claims to support western culture against communists and anarchists, and have organised counter-protests to antifa and Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
He was charged with possessing two high-capacity rifle magazines and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a December 2020 demonstration, and was ordered to leave the city until his court hearing.
Five members of the group were reportedly arrested for involvement in the deadly January 6 riot at the Capitol building, the seat of the US Congress, by a group that broke away from a White House speech by Trump.
