2 Bay State residents charged in violent siege
A lead organizer of Boston’s “Straight Pride Parade” is being detained and a Natick Town Meeting member has been ordered to stay away from the State House as both face charges in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Mark Sahady, 46, of Malden, and Suzanne Ianni, 59, of Natick — both avowed President Trump supporters — were arrested by FBI agents at their respective homes early Tuesday and both appeared later in U.S. District Court in Boston where a prosecutor suggested the pair could still pose a threat.
“The defendant was part of an organized horde, whose actions collectively resulted in the murder of one police officer, four other deaths and at least 60 other people injured,” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Bloomer said of Sahady during a virtual court appearance.
Bloomer did not oppose Ianni’s release but asked a judge to specify that she was to stay away from the Massachusetts State House per the conditions of her release. Ianni is also barred from participating in protests ahead of her trial.
“We suspect and anticipate there will be different demonstrations there over the next week or so,” the prosecutor said.
Judge Jennifer Boal ordered Sahady held in federal prison ahead of a Thursday detention hearing.
Defense lawyer Jane Peachy said, “I fail to see anything distinguishable between the two cases.”
Ianni and Sahady face charges of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and entering or remaining in the U.S. Capitol building unlawfully on Jan. 6 as Congress met to certify Presidentelect Joe Biden’s election. Photos posted to social media captured the pair inside and around the building, FBI documents allege.
Sahady is a founder and vice president of the antiLGBTQ Super Happy Fun America, known for its “Straight Pride” march in Boston in 2019, and a Trump supporter — traits First Amendment lawyer Rinaldo Del Gallo called “unfashionable” but “not criminal” in a statement to the Herald.
Bloomer called Sahady a “driving force” in marshaling people to Washington, D.C., ahead of the Jan. 6 siege, a claim Del Gallo dismissed in court saying his client isn’t “some type of mafioso.”
Ianni also has ties to the group, FBI documents allege. In a Jan. 5 post to the group’s Facebook page, Ianni and Sahady are pictured together on a bus flashing thumbs-up signs alongside about a half-dozen other people.
The FBI tip line for the deadly Capitol insurrection has been flooded with calls since Jan. 6, several of which identified Sahady and Ianni. It also led to the identification of a woman accused of stealing a laptop from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s chambers.
Riley June Williams turned herself into authorities in Pennsylvania on Monday.