WASHINGTON — Enrique Tarrio, leader of the extremist Proud Boys, came to the federal courthouse to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy (and other counts) committed on Jan. 6, 2021.

The violent Trumpist Proud Boys were first to march to the Capitol, even before former President Donald Trump sent the mob of thousands to assault police lines and storm the sacred citadel.

Inside the House chamber, we heard howls and shrieks, footsteps pounding, breaking glass on marble floors — and then gunshots just outside in the Speaker’s Lobby.

Yes, I was there.

Suddenly, a formal ritual — Congress counting presidential votes — turned into a siege of the House and Senate. The violation of the Constitution was stunning, to this day.

Everyone ran for their lives during the rampage. For the first time, American democracy’s peaceful transfer of power failed. Plain and simple, it was an attempt to turn the 2020 presidential loser, Trump, into the winner.

The mob caused 150 police casualties in hand-to-hand combat. About a thousand arrests have taken place, according to the FBI.

Government lawyers said scores of Proud Boys were a “tidal wave in a sea of rioters” in the ironically named Peace Circle. At the end of the January day’s mayhem, Tarrio bragged about his ranks street-fighting the police and vandalizing the Capitol:

“Make no mistake, we did this.”

On the week of the attack, Tarrio was under orders to stay out of the city, after he pleaded guilty to burning a church’s “Black Lives Matter” banner. The jury found he commanded the conspiracy, in touch with co-conspirators from nearby Baltimore on Jan. 6.

Tarrio and the Proud Boys started plotting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as early as mid-December 2020, Judge Timothy Kelly stated. Pepper spray and armor was part of the plan. They coordinated with the militaristic Oath Keepers extremist group, led by Stewart Rhodes, in tearing down barricades.

Rhodes is now serving an 18-year sentence.

Tarrio fully intended for the Proud Boys to use force against the government, the judge declared. Affirming that Tarrio was the ultimate leader in seditious conspiracy, Kelly handed down a sentence of 22 years.

Tarrio’s sentence is the longest given to any Jan. 6 defendant. Trump himself goes on trial in this very courthouse on March 4, for election interference.

That January day, if the plan worked, would be a triumph for Trump, and a resounding win for violent extremists, leaving the ship of state in limbo.

Lawyers for Tarrio told the judge he was a “misguided patriot,” a Miami native with Cuban-American heritage.

Seeing his overwrought mother in the restroom for three seconds, I shed no tears.

Jan. 6 was not the Proud Boys’ first time in the public eye. In Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, a white supremacy march turned deadly. Authorities consider it a white nationalist, racist, misogynist and violent all-male group.

Trump treated the Proud Boys as foot soldiers at his beck and call. “Stand by,” he addressed them during a presidential debate.

The Anti-Defamation League closely monitors the Proud Boys and predicted violence would break out on Jan.6, 2021. Law enforcement was mostly caught by surprise.

The Metropolitan Police Department — 800 officers — saved us.

I went down to see the convicted 39-year-old face his fate. Slight, bald and bearded, Tarrio was clad in an orange jumpsuit.

This guy had thousands of followers? This guy rounded up a ragtag army to report from all over the nation?

This guy plotted a constitutional crisis?

Oh yes, believe it.

“This trial has humbled me,” Tarrio said. He apologized to police officers injured in the melee and to citizens of Washington.

“I was my own worst enemy,” Tarrio said, showing regret for comparing one Proud Boy to George Washington. He asked Kelly to show him mercy.

Prosecutors requested 33 years. The defense requested 15. Tarrio will age to about 60 in prison.

As we in the press room awaited for the judge’s sentence, a famous line from “The Godfather” came to mind.

The character Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) delivers it: “It’s not personal, Sonny — it’s strictly business.”

Enrique, between us, Jan. 6 was personal. I witnessed the winter crime and now your punishment on a bright summer day.

To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit Creators.com.

Newsletter