Enrique Tarrio
Henry Tarrio was born in Miami in 1984 in the neighborhood of Little Havana. He is of both African American and Cuban descent. He grew up poor and at the young age of 20 was caught stealing. He was sentenced to probation and community service and restitution. After his sentence was served, he moved up to a small town in Northern Florida to run a poultry farm. Learning how to run a company, he returned to Miami to launch a security equipment installation company and a GPS tracking firm.
He identified with his Cuban heritage and took on the name Enrique. Medical fraud is huge in Miami and Enrique got caught up with a scheme to rebrand and resell stolen diabetic tests. In exchange for his cooperation, Enrique received a lower sentence, but he handed over information and evidence on a dozen other individuals. He served sixteen months in federal prison
He had worked closely with both federal and local law enforcement and became an informant between 2012 to 2014, when he was about 28 to 30. Enrique assisted the government in the prosecution of fraud in anabolic steroids, gambling, human smuggling, and drug trafficking.
After volunteering at a Miami event for Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017, he met members of the Proud Boys. He joined the organization. A natural leader, Enrique was promoted to the role of chairman in 2018, from the founder, Gavin McInnes. Gavin had started Proud Boys after founding VICE as and organization to help men be okay with being men. The organization was extremely offensive to liberals as it advocated that women were happier at home. Gavin felt Enrique could do great things and suggested he consider becoming a politician. Instead, Enrique organized a End Domestic Terrorism rally to support the journalist, Andy Ngo, who had been brutalized by antifa for reporting on their activities in Portland. The left found all of this very offensive and labeled Enrique, a half black/half Latino as “racist.” In response, Enrique has described himself as none of the above and has stated clearly, “I denounce white supremacy.I denounce anti-Semitism. I denounce racism. I denounce fascism. I denounce communism and any other -ism that is prejudiced towards people because of their race, religion, culture, tone of skin.”
Enrique continued his efforts in business and launched a Miami T-shirt shop, that Salon described as a “freewheeling online emporium for far-right merch.”
In 2018, Twitter removed Tarrio’s account, along with others related to the Proud Boys, citing how platform policy prohibited accounts related to violent extremist groups.
Enrique rallied in DC before J6. On December 12, 2020, after the stolen election, Enrique led the Proud Boys in a protest to set fire to a “Black Lives Matter” banner they seized from Asbury United Methodist Church. A clash ensued and BLM fought and four people were stabbed. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, he was arrested by D.C. police on January 4, two days before the January 6 insurrection.The FBI later said they had arrested Enrique in an attempt to prevent the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
Enrique was charged with misdemeanor destruction of property and with two counts of felony possession of illegal high-capacity ammunition magazines (which police discovered upon arresting Tarrio on January 4).He was released on bail on January 5, 2021, with conditions; he was banned from entering Washington except for trial or meeting with his lawyers. Enrique was NOT in DC on January 6th.
In July 2021, part of a plea agreement with prosecutors on the burning of the BLM banner, Enrique pleaded guilty to destruction of property and to a misdemeanor count of attempted possession of a high-capacity magazine (the felony counts were dropped as part of the agreement). He acknowledged that he had burned the banner but denied that the act was a hate crime.Tarrio was sentenced to 155 days in theDC Gulag.
By November 2021, at least two dozen Proud Boys members and affiliates had been indicted for alleged roles in J6. Enrique said he would neither “support” nor “condemn” the attack and did not “sympathize” with lawmakers.By January 2022, at least 37 members of the Proud Boys were arrested and charged with January 6-related offenses. Enrique and the Proud Boys were subpoenaed by the Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger J6Committee. Enrique complied andgave a deposition to them.
Enrique was not to be left alone and he was raided and indicted in March 2022on his involvement with J6.Enrique was not given bail and returned to the DC gulag. In June 2022, a federal grand jury indicted himon “seditious conspiracy” charges. To ensure the DOJ’s success, the Judge denied any delay for defense preparation and the trial began in January of 2023. Enrique’s counselweredenied many reasonable requests by the Judge, the last one being for a mistrial.
After more than three months of the trial which included DOJ evidence including Enrique’s post on January 6 of “Do what must be done”; later, “Do it again.” In another message, he wrote, “Make no mistake. We did this.” The DOJ promised a fellow Proud Boy J6 participant no jail time if he would testify against Enrique, and Jeremy Bertino, did. Bertino claimed Enrique’s intent was to subvert the election.On May 4, 2023, the jury issued its verdict, finding Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs, and Rehl guilty of seditious conspiracy.
The DOJ wasn’t done. They also convicted Enrique of obstruction of Congress (for interfering with Congress’s counting of the electoral votes); of obstructing law enforcement; and of two additional counts of conspiracy. The DOJ was delighted. On September 5, 2023, Enrique was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the longest handed to any January 6 offender.The Judge had more to add in terms of enhancements, he added a “terrorism” enhancement.
Enrique’s mother begged Judge Kelly for leniency, as Enrique dressed in an orange prison outfit, apologized for his role in the events of Jan. 6 and said his trial had “humbled” him.
As for Jan. 6 itself, it was a “national embarrassment,” Mr. Tarrio said, adding, “I am not a political zealot.”
Enrique understood well what the DOJ was doing and begged the judge, “Please show me mercy, I ask you that you not take my 40s from me.”
Judge Kelly then sentenced him to 22 years of hard time, the longest sentence yet.
As of December 2023, Tarrio is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution, Manchester in Kentucky. He is scheduled to be released on December 5, 2040.
You can write Henry “Enrique” Tarrio at:
#98721-004
FCI Manchester
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 4000
Manchester, KY 40962