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Federal prosecutors investigating the violent riot at the Capitol this month announced their first conspiracy charges against the Proud Boys on Friday night (local time), accusing two members of the far-right 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 the two Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, New York, and William Pepe, of Beacon, New York, with 11 counts, including conspiracy, assaulting an officer and civil disorder.
Both Mr Pezzola, a former boxer and Marine, and Mr Pepe, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, were already facing lesser charges connected to the Capitol attack, which followed a 6 January rally in support of former President Donald Trump.
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Two crossed lines that form an X . It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. Prosecutors allege these images show (L) Dominic Pezzola breaking into the Capitol with a riot shield, and (R) smoking a cigar inside the building. US Department of Justice
Prosecutors said Dominic Pezzola was the cigar-smoking insurrectionist from January 20.
He has been indicted on numerous charges.
The bearded, cigar-smoking Proud Boys member who led the Capitol s invasion by a pro-Trump mob had manuals for making bombs, guns, and poisons on a thumb drive, federal prosecutors allege.
Dominic Pezzola, 43, was among the first rioters to charge the police lines during the Capitol s insurrection following a pro-Trump rally on January 6, court documents say.
2 Proud Boys charged with conspiracy in Capitol riot; 1 had bomb-making manual on thumb drive, feds say Will Cleveland, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
You can help the FBI identify rioters who stormed the US Capitol
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ROCHESTER, NY – Federal prosecutors on Friday announced conspiracy charges against two members of the Proud Boys, an extremist group with ties to white nationalism, in relation to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Dominic Pezzola, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Rochester, New York, and William Pepe, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from Beacon, New York, were indicted on a slew of new charges late Friday.
Federal prosecutors unveiled the first conspiracy charges against two members of the far-right nationalist group Proud Boys for their actions during the violent Capitol riot. It marked the first time that members of the Proud Boys are accused of working together to attack the Capitol. Prosecutors allege Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, N.Y., and William Pepe, of Beacon, N.Y. cooperated to interfere with the work of law enforcement officers who were protecting Congress. The two men had already been facing lesser charges two weeks ago connected to the attack on the Capitol.
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Of the some 175 people who have been charged for their actions during the Capitol riot, at least eight have ties to the Proud Boys, reports CNN. But these latest charges stand out because the vast majority have been accused of relatively minor crimes like disorderly conduct. For now, the only others who are facing serious conspiracy charges are three members of the Oath Keepers, a militia group, who ar
ROCHESTER, NY – Federal prosecutors on Friday announced conspiracy charges against two members of the Proud Boys, an extremist group with ties to white nationalism, in relation to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Dominic Pezzola, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Rochester, New York, and William Pepe, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from Beacon, New York, were indicted on a slew of new charges late Friday.
Pezzola was charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a United States Capitol police officer, according to the FBI. He possessed a thumb drive containing instructions on how to make homemade firearms, poisons, and explosives, federal prosecutors revealed in a detention application Friday.