Multiple news outlets report that Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio worked several years ago as a confidential informant for the FBI and other police agencies. He reportedly assisted in multiple state and federal investigations as a “prolific” cooperator.
Tarrio reported began working with authorities following his arrest in 2012 on fraud charges, the New York Post wrote citing a Reuters article. He is said to have helped in cases regarding drugs, gambling, and human smuggling.
Reuters first reported the information about Tarrio being a confidential informant.
An attorney for Tarrio in 2014, Jeffrey Feiler, said his client worked “at his own risk, in an undercover role met and negotiated to pay $11,000 to members of that [human smuggling] ring to bring in fictitious family members from another country.”
During that hearing, Feiler called his client a “prolific” cooperator, the article continues.
“Your Honor, frankly, in all the years, which is now more than 30 that I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had a client as prolific in terms of cooperating in any respect,” Feiler said in court, according to the Daily Press.
The prosecutor in Tarrio’s case joined with the defense in praising his level of cooperation. They argued that Tarrio’s 30-month sentence be reduced. The judge cut the sentence to 16 months, according to the court records that served as a source for the articles.
Tarrio, meanwhile, denies having ever cooperating with authorities the article continues.
Speaking with Reuters, Tarrio denied working undercover or cooperating in cases against other people.
“I don’t know any of this,” he responded to Reuters’ questions about court transcripts. “I don’t recall any of this.”
According to the Associated Press, Tarrio helped the government in prosecutions against more than a dozen people beginning nearly a decade ago.
The AP reports:
The Proud Boys is a far-right, male chauvinist extremist group that seized on the Trump administration’s policies and was a major agitator during earlier protests and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
…
Tarrio was arrested in Washington on Jan. 4, two days before the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in a bid to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.
He was accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during an earlier protest in the nation’s capital. The banner was ripped from Asbury United Methodist Church property, torn and set aflame in December.
Tarrio was seen with the sign in video of the incident posted on YouTube, according to a police report. When police pulled Tarrio over, officers found two unloaded magazines emblazoned with the Proud Boys logo in his bag that had a capacity of 30 rounds each, authorities said.
Prosecutors from the past said, “From day one, he was the one who wanted to talk to law enforcement, wanted to clear his name, wanted to straighten this out so that he could move on with his life,” in a court transcript. “And he has in fact cooperated in a significant way.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.
