WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th January, 2021) US authorities indicted two members of a notorious right-wing nationalist group for their role in the recent riots on Capitol Hill as part of a broader strategy to reign in domestic extremism, although some in law enforcement predict the violence is not about to end.
The charges come as states across the country continue to send national guard forces to Washington, DC just weeks after supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed Capitol Hill. Trump was impeached for allegedly inciting the unrest and faces a Senate trial in February.
On Friday, the US Justice Department said two men from New York, Dominic Pezzola and William Pepe, both members of the Proud Boys nationalist organization, were indicted in Federal court for conspiring to obstruct law enforcement from protecting the US Capitol and its grounds on January 6.
"Pezzola and Pepe are members of the Proud Boys, a group self-described as a 'pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists,'" the Justice Department said citing charging documents.
According to court documents filed earlier in the day, the FBI found bomb-making instructions inside the home of Pezzola, also known as "Spaz."
Prosecutors, citing a witness, said Pezzola's group vowed to assassinate US Vice President Mike Pence and planned to return to the US Capitol on January 20, the day of President Joe Biden's inauguration, to kill "every single 'm-fer' they can."
Video widely circulated on social media shows Pezzola breaking a window with a police shield to allow pro-Trump supporters to enter the Capital building, US authorities said.
"It is further alleged that Pezzola confronted a Capitol Police officer attempting to control the crowd and ripped away the officer's riot shield, while the officer was physically engaging with individuals who had gathered unlawfully in the west plaza of the Capitol," the Justice Department release said.
On Wednesday, three individuals affiliated with the Oath Keepers militia group were indicted in federal court for allegedly participating in the January 6 siege at the US Capitol building.
The US Homeland Security Department in an advisory issued earlier this week said that domestic extremists opposed to the presidential transition could continue to mobilize and commit violence, emboldened by the January 6 breach of the US Capitol building.
Biden has repeatedly vowed to crack down on violent extremism - including white nationalism, a message White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield underscored.
"[Biden] is committed, from his position in the White House as the leader of this country, to criticizing, condemning, aggressively pushing back on white supremacy," Bedingfield told The View on Friday.
However, some senior leaders within the US law enforcement community believe the United States must do more to effectively address domestic extremism. They also are concerned about the number of extremists that have infiltrated US police departments and military forces.
Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) Executive Director Diane Goldstein, a former Lieutenant Commander at the Redondo Beach, California Police Department, told Sputnik that the scourge of white supremacy is not being adequately addressed in the United States.
"Our biggest threat is domestic terrorism and white nationalism. We as Americans are not taking the threat of white nationalism seriously," Goldstein said. "In the 1990s, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Order were fomenting a lot of violence. Law enforcement took a real signature stand and pushed these people back. That's not occurring right now."
Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper warned that the Capitol Hill riot was not an aberration, saying that it is "the first of others that we will see." Stamper said he always knew that far-right individuals had infiltrated police departments and the military but expressed surprise at the extent of that infiltration.
"With regard to the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and others in law enforcement and the military, I know that the figure is much much greater than I thought 20 years ago," he said. "We're not just talking about a handful of bad apples - this is a significant thread in law enforcement. They should be prohibited from strapping on a gun."
The Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, a Cuban-American, told Insider news in September that his organization denounces white supremacy and fascism.
Earlier this week, Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers that the police failed to adequately prepare for the event despite knowing militia groups and white supremacists organizations would be attending. The US Defense Department has said it is currently conducting a review of its policies concerning service members in domestic extremist groups so that it can more effectively address the issue.
