Proud Boys: S–t, Where Do We Begin?

Every day since Jan. 6 has been just another day of bad news for this crew. If the Proud Boys are talked about at all by the end of this year, it will be not as some force to be reckoned with but as a cautionary tale, and they have their antics that day to thank!

When then-Presidential Candidate Joe Biden namechecked the neo-fascist Proud Boys in last year’s first presidential debate to challenge Donald Trump to renounce White supremacists – a challenge Trump famously failed by responding with, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by” – it also served notice that should Biden become president he was obligated to cause the violent organization more than a few problems. The Proud Boys didn’t make their situation any better with a series of violence vandalism and stabbings following back-to-back “Stop the Steal” rallies organized by the dark money group Women for America First. But then the insurrection of Jan. 6 found them right in the crosshairs, and to date they have seen more arrests of their members than any other right wing organization that was represented that day. The weeks since that day might prove to be the beginning of the end of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist political gang founded by Vice Magazine founder Gavin McInnes in 2016 that paints itself as a drinking club but is best known for its political violence in the defense of fascism and what they call “Western chauvinism”. On Wednesday, Canada declared the so-called “drinking club” a terrorist organization, along with neo-Nazi groups such as Atomwaffen Division, The Base and the Russian Imperial Movement, a Russian nationalist group with members linked to other paramilitary neo-Nazi groups globally. It remains to be seen if this designation weighs on the McInnes’ status as a Canadian national residing in the United States.

Among the arrestees is Proud Boy officer Joe Biggs, known for making violent threats online towards antifa, but hardly seen engaging in any physical confrontations. He was arrested on Inauguration Day as Biden took the oath of the office Biggs and countless Trump supporters failed miserably to prevent him from taking.  Proud Boy Chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested days before the rally and ordered to stay away from Washington, DC after he was arrested and charged not only for his role in burning a Black Lives Matter banner he and other Proud Boys stole from a church, but also for possessing two firearm magazines that were illegal in the District, and especially illegal for him to possess at all given his felony criminal record. Tarrio’s problems were about to get worse however when it was reported a week after Biggs’ arrest that years ago he worked as a “prolific” federal informant, assisting the FBI on some cases. While none of them seem to be related to his political activities, the fallout was coming.

On Monday a hammer fell on Tarrio, and a rather curious one. Texas Attorney Jason Van Dyke, who owns the Proud Boys trademark and is the registered agent for Proud Boys, LLC, sent Tarrio a letter saying that he is no longer allowed to use the trademark, citing mishandling of their merchandise website and “permitting or failing to regulate” anything associated with the Proud Boys that promote National Socialism, and engaging in a rally on Dec. 8 that resulted in the destruction of private property in a place of worship. The burning of the stolen Black Lives Matter banner took place on Dec. 12, and as a result the Metropolitan AME Church, one of the churches affected, filed a lawsuit against Tarrio and the Proud Boys, naming him and Van Dyke in particular who is on public records as the Registered Agent of Proud Boys International, LLC.

So …Van Dyke is still involved? REALLY????? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/bKKv2BoLJA

— Seitan Worshipper Staying Home 🦠🦠 (@TheLibertyLamp) February 1, 2021

The filing of the lawsuit became the first indication that Jason Van Dyke was still involved with the Proud Boys despite pronouncements saying otherwise. He was well-known for threatening media outlets and others for referring to the groups as Nazis or anti-Semites, but himself has been shown to be a racist and anti-Semitc, once attempting to join the neo-Nazi terrorist group the Base – who rejected him as too much of a liability – and reportedly saying in the taped interview for the group, “There’re plenty of people in the Proud Boys who don’t believe that Jews have a place in this country and they want to put a stop to it.”  In 2018, the Proud Boys released a statement noting “Jason Lee Van Dyke is no longer a member of the Proud Boys fraternity and will no longer be representing the fraternity in any legal capacity,” citing not any controversial beliefs he may have but rather that he was “being stalked and harassed by someone with seemingly limitless resources,” causing him to “completely lose his temper and say some horrible things to his attackers that simply can’t be taken back.” A Vice magazine article from last year however notes an unidentified Proud Boy member saying he “got kicked out” for reportedly doxxing group members and getting arrested for “trying to fake a robbery against himself,” a possible reference to a 2018 incident where he reportedly filed a false police report that claimed several items including firearms and a camera were stolen from a truck parked outside his Oak Point, TX residence. In 2019, Van Dyke saw his law license suspended for six months for threats made against someone he was engaged in a legal battle with.

Meanwhile, another Proud Boy leader with strong ties to White supremacist and neo-Nazi circles, Vinlander Social Club founder Brien James, has been among the most vocal of his distrust of Enrique Tarrio since the news of him being an informant came out, and on Saturday, released a video where he read court documents he says shows Tarrio was responsible for dozens of people to jail for a reduction in his own jail sentence and payment of $11,000, calling him “the lowest fucking form of piece of shit.” On Monday, the same day as the Van Dyke letter to Tarrio, James, who also founded and runs another neo-fascist group called American Guard, announced on behalf of the four Indiana Proud Boys chapters a “declaration of separation” from the national Proud Boys hierarchy, disavowing Tarrio and anyone associating with him, encouraging other chapters to follow suit. On Wednesday, the Tulsa, Oklahoma chapter of the Proud Boys announced that they too were breaking away from the national leadership, saying they “will continue to operate as Proud Boys but recognize no centralized leader or leadership beyond chapter officers.”

But any efforts to breakaway and reorganize might prove to be futile as federal law enforcement tightens their grip on the Proud Boys. While the United States has not declared the group a terrorist organization as Canada has, the U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to charge members of the far-right groups involved in the insurrection under laws via the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. While no final decision has been made in that regard, two Proud Boys out of New York, Dominic Pezzola, 43, of Rochester and the ironically-named William Pepe, 31, of Beacon face federal conspiracy charges stemming from their involvement in the insurrection. Originally the two were facing lesser charges, but on Friday, prosecutors announced the upgrade, saying they “engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct, influence, impede, and interfere with law enforcement officers engaged in their official duties in protecting the U.S. Capitol and its grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.” Video reportedly shows them breaking down barricades, overwhelming police trying to keep them from storming the Capitol, and Pezzola stealing a riot shield from a police officer and using it to break a Capitol building window.

But the pressure isn’t just coming from law enforcement. Ethan Nordean, one of the Proud Boys “Elders” who goes by the name “Rufio Panman”, gained notoriety from knocking out an antifascist protester during a livestream, but while many on the right sang his praises, antifascists proceeded to make his life a living hell. On January 29, the purported “sergeant-at-arms” for the Seattle chapter announced that he was leaving the Pacific Northwest for Tennessee after even his family distanced themselves from him, his father famously firing him last June from Wally’s Chowder House, the family business in Des Moines, Washington. “I’ve lost my career 3 times, my family has cut all ties with me, my marriage has been destroyed and I have been completely removed from almost all social media and other resources and my own government seems to think I’m the bad guy,” he wrote.  Out of all of this I’ve learned that if you are going to stand for something good, expect the world to stand against you with everything it has, as (sic) a great man once said, ‘a man provides even when he’s not loved, even when he’s hated’.” 

Quoting the “great man” Giancarlo Esposito’s Gus from Breaking Bad or attempting to move away ultimately did not help Nordean. On Wednesday, he became the latest Proud Boy to be arrested and charged with aiding and abetting injury or depredation against government property; obstructing or impeding an official proceeding; knowingly entering or remaining in restricted building or grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct. He was seen in photos and videos alongside Joe Biggs and Philadelphia Proud Boy Zach Rehl, who has yet to be charged with a crime, leading their crew to the Capitol and inside. Mike Nordean posted a statement on the Wally’s Chowder House website lamenting the direction his son took in life, and thanking customers for their support regardless. “My son, Ethan, was arrested on February 3rd for his involvement in the Capitol siege,” the statement read. We have tried for a long while to get our son off the path which led to his arrest today – to no avail.  Ethan will be held accountable for his actions.”

I don’t know where Mike Nordean (Proud Boy Ethan Nordean’s father) is in his political beliefs, but right now it doesn’t matter. It’s a damned shame that he had to do this. I feel for him in this moment. Ethan deserves every bad thing that happens to him. pic.twitter.com/FbjM36b6c5

— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) February 4, 2021

According to public records, Nordean, along with Biggs and Tarrio were the managers of an incorporation called Warboys, LLC which is based out of Tarrio’s home.

Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs told me today that he has known “for years” about PB Chairman Enrique Tarrio’s prolific past as a government informant. I asked Biggs if he still trusts Tarrio.

“Until he gives me a reason not to,” he said. And then repeated the phrase more softly.

— Karina Brown (@karinapdx) February 3, 2021

The direction of those Proud Boys who have either been arrested on lesser charges or not charged at all, but the Proud Boys might not be long for this world under that name. The world now knows that one of their leaders is a reputed neo-Nazi that they have always said was no longer with them. Another leader with a long, storied history of being a neo-Nazi leader wasn’t even in Washington DC on Jan. 6, and might be one of the few leaders to escape prosecution barring any RICO entanglements. And Gavin McInnes, the one responsible for founding the Proud Boys and whose past comments have made it clear he intended the group to be utilized for political violence, calling also for more violence from Trump supporters overall, has to deal with the possibly of not being able to stay in the United States now that his home country deems him and his crew terrorists. A common line that the Proud Boys use is “Fuck Around And Find Out,” and it is ironic how so many have thrown that line back in their faces over the past few months, let alone weeks. That bit of sport won’t be letting up anytime soon, and may remain until the Proud Boys are nonexistant.