Feiler believed at the time that his client was good at it. Tarrio has continued to help the authorities fight crime, Mr. She ultimately cut his sentence to 16 months. “I find that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation and prosecution of other persons involved in criminal conduct,” the judge in Mr. Tarrio had worked undercover for police departments in Miami and Hialeah, at times putting himself at risk. Tarrio’s sentence, arguing that his client had cooperated “in a significant way” in two other federal cases, leading to the prosecution of 13 people. Feiler went to court to ask a federal judge to reduce Mr. “He was kind of like the marketing person,” his lawyer, Jeffrey Feiler, said at the time. In 2012, he was charged with fraud in Miami in connection with a scheme to sell loads of diabetes test kits that co-defendants had stolen from a truck in Kentucky and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Tarrio’s criminal history reaches back to at least 2004 when he was convicted of stealing a $50,000 motorcycle. The group of self-described “Western chauvinists” has a history of scuffling in street fights with left-wing antifascist activists and has made a name for itself in recent years for its vocal - and often violent - support of former President Donald J. Tarrio, 36, has been a focus of the F.B.I.’s enormous inquiry into the Capitol attack, which has led so far to more than 150 arrests, including those of at least six members of the Proud Boys. Tarrio did not respond to messages from The New York Times seeking comment, but he denied to Reuters that he had ever worked undercover or cooperated with law enforcement. Tarrio sought to reduce his own sentence in a fraud case, shows that he helped law enforcement officers in his home state, Florida, to investigate and prosecute criminal enterprises, including an illegal gambling business, a marijuana grow lab, an operation that sold anabolic steroids and an immigrant smuggling ring. The court transcript, which documents a hearing in 2014 where Mr. “He cooperated with local and federal law enforcement, to aid in the prosecution of those running other, separate criminal enterprises,” the former prosecutor, Vanessa Singh Johannes, said in a statement. 6, after which a mob of hundreds broke into the Capitol, disrupting the final certification of the presidential election. Tarrio himself has fallen under scrutiny for his role in encouraging the Proud Boys to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. and local police departments go after more than a dozen criminal defendants about a decade ago was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday.

Tarrio, who leads one of the country’s most notorious extremist groups, helped the F.B.I. Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist group that is a major target of the sprawling investigation into the riot at the Capitol this month, has a history of cooperating with law enforcement, according to court records and a former prosecutor.

Proud boy informant