Columbia SC area man arrested in case involving Proud Boys leader

A Columbia area man has been arrested for allegedly threatening a former federal prosecutor who publicly confirmed last week that Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, had once been a confidential police informant whose information had been used to prosecute more than a dozen individuals.

Documents in the case also charge that the man, James Patrick Giannakos Jr., of Gilbert, in Lexington County, threatened the former prosecutor’s family and associates.

A telephone message allegedly left by Giannakos said in part, “If anything happens to Mr. Enrique Tarrio, the same thing will happen to you and your family ... If anything happens to him, I promise you and your associates will pay for it.”

Giannakos is being held without bond in a Columbia area jail on a federal charge related to his allegedly making more than half a dozen interstate voicemail threats to the former federal prosecutor and her family. The threats were recorded as voicemails at the various law offices in the firm where she now works as a private attorney, a complaint in the case said.

Giannakos, a middle-aged man dressed in an orange jail jump suit, appeared Thursday morning at a fifteen-minute federal court hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges, where the charges against him were formally lodged and his rights were read to him. Hodges also appointed federal public defender Allen Burnside to represent him. The hearing was at the federal courthouse in Columbia.

At the hearing, Hodges set a bond hearing for Feb. 11 at which time the federal authorities will present evidence as to why Giannakos should be kept in jail without bond pending a trial. Giannakos will also have the opportunity to present evidence to show why he should be released on a bond.

Giannakos also has an opportunity to have a preliminary hearing that day, during which the government would be required to reveal the evidence it has against him.

According to information in the case, Giannakos was arrested at the house where he lives in Gilbert by the FBI’s South Carolina Joint Terrorism Task Force team.

The complaint said that last month, the former federal prosecutor — who was not identified in the complaint — publicly confirmed that Proud Boys leader Tarrio had once been a police informant whose information had led to the prosecution of 13 individuals on various drug, gambling and other charges. News accounts quoting the former prosecutor appeared in Reuters, The New York Times and other widely-distributed media.

After those accounts appeared, the complaint said, threatening messages were left on phones at the former prosecutor’s current law offices.

One message read: “Miss (name known to the FBI), my name’s James. I just wanted you to know that if anything happens to Mr. Enrique Tarrio, the same thing will happen to you and your family. I cannot believe you released the CI (confidential informant) information, if that’s even true. If anything happens to him, I promise you and your associates will pay for it. You will be held responsible.”

The complaint said that an 803 area code telephone number linked to Giannakos was used to make multiple interstate threats left on that voicemail and other voicemails left at the law firm’s various Florida offices and in other states.

The former prosecutor was not identified in the complaint.

The news accounts surfaced after Reuters news agency had found a 2014 federal court transcript in which Tarrio’s role as an informant was discussed.

The FBI maintains local Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country to investigate international and domestic terrorism. Their job is to protect the nation from surprise terrorist attacks.

Proud Boys are a loose-knit national group with ties to white nationalists and have been labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Several Proud Boys have been arrested in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. A Wall Street Journal investigation found the Proud Boys were “key instigators” in that riot.

On Wednesday, Canada declared the Proud Boys a terrorist organization.

Last fall, former President Trump gave the Proud Boys national prominence when, during a debate with then-candidate Joe Biden, said he would tell the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

Peter McCoy, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, said, “Those who seek violent retribution on prosecutors, former prosecutors, other law enforcement officials and individuals who assist law enforcement will be held accountable.”

Jim May and Elliott Daniels, assistant U.S. attorneys in the Columbia office, are prosecuting the case.

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 11:25 AM.