Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, was sentenced this afternoon to 22 years in prison for organizing a gang of his pro-Trump followers to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
It was the most severe penalty handed down so far to any of the more than 1,100 rioters charged in connection with the Capitol attack, and no other defendant faces accusations as serious.
Two others — another Proud Boys leader as well as Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia — had received 18-year sentences.
The Justice Department has all but decapitated the group’s national leadership and mostly put an end to its involvement in often-violent pro-Trump rallies.
Still, the Proud Boys as a whole have persisted as “foot soldiers for the right,” in the words of one member who testified for the government at Tarrio’s trial, and have inserted themselves into conflicts at the local level.
Persons:
Enrique Tarrio, Stewart Rhodes, —
Organizations:
Trump, Capitol, The, Department