Proud Boys accused of conspiracy in riot

Federal prosecutors investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol this month announced their first conspiracy charges against the Proud Boys on Friday night, accusing two members of the farright nationalist group of working together to obstruct and interfere with law enforcement officers protecting Congress during the final certification of the presidential election.

In an indictment filed in federal court in Washington, prosecutors charged Dominic Pezzola of Rochester, N.Y., and William Pepe of Beacon, N.Y., with 11 counts, including conspiracy, assaulting an officer and civil disorder. Both Pezzola, a former boxer and Marine, and Pepe, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, were already facing lesser charges connected

to the attack, which followed a Jan. 6 rally in support of former President Donald Trump.

While more than 170 people have been charged in the assault on the Capitol, most have been accused of relatively minor crimes such as disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. The only other serious conspiracy charges in the inquiry have been brought against three members of the Oath Keepers militia group, who are accused of organizing since a week after the November

election to stop the certification of the vote.

But unlike the Oath Keepers indictment, the one against Pezzola, 43, and Pepe, 31, describes only a two-person conspiracy that lasted only through the day of the rally, when, it notes, a large group of Proud Boys traveled to Washington and gathered near the Capitol grounds.

A Proud Boys “organizer” led the group — with Pezzola and Pepe among them — in a series of chants, including, “We love Trump,” before moving on to the Capitol, the indictment says.

Earlier this month, prosecutors described a virtually identical scene in court papers charging Joseph Biggs, a high-ranking leader of the Proud Boys, with steering a crew of about 100 of the group toward the Capitol. Another organizer, Ethan Nordean, helped Biggs lead the crowd, the court papers said, but he has not been charged.

The Proud Boys, a self-described “western chauvinist” group that has a long history of bloody street fights with leftwing activists known as antifa, have drawn the attention of investigators because they are one of the extremist outfits that had a large presence on Capitol Hill during the assault. The FBI has started executing search warrants against the group, including one recently that permitted the collection of numerous electronic devices from a Proud Boys member who took extensive videos of Biggs and his crew.

The organization, which has maintained links with overt white supremacists and more mainstream Republicans, has been a vocal — and often violent — advocate for Trump. During one of the presidential debates, Trump seemed to signal his support by telling its members to

“stand back and stand by.”

Investigators have made a priority of exploring whether the attack was planned in advance by groups like the Proud Boys. This past week, U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin in Washington said prosecutors were focused on bringing “more complicated conspiracy cases related to possible coordination among militia groups” and on “individuals from different states that had a plan to travel” to Washington before Jan. 6.

The new Proud Boys indictment offers no evidence that members of the group worked in advance to plot the assault and describes only vague links between its two defendants, Pezzola and Pepe. Still, the indictment notes that the men worked with other individuals, both “known and unknown,” leaving open the possibility that further charges could be filed.

Dominic Pezzola, left, 43, and William Pepe, 31, both residents of New York state, are facing 11 counts.