(CNN) A leader of the Proud Boys who led the far-right organization’s infamous march to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison – among the longest sentences handed down yet for a convicted rioter. Joe Biggs was convicted by a Washington, DC jury of several charges including seditious conspiracy for attempting to forcibly prevent the peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
Was Joe proud and defiant to the end? Did he raise a clinched fist and shout “Live free or die!”
In a passionate appeal to the judge, Biggs, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, said that “I know that I have to be punished and I understand,” but added “please give me the chance, I beg you, to take my daughter to school and pick her up. I know that I messed up that day, but I am not a terrorist,” he said through tears. Biggs said that he was “seduced” by the mob and “just moved forward.”
I’m picturing Joe explaining to his cellmate how he wound up in a federal prison.
“I wanted to see what would happen. My curiosity got the best of me.”
For all their media attention, I realized I didn’t know much about the Proud Boys so I headed over to Wikipedia where there’s a really long entry. Here’s my favorite part:
The Proud Boys say they have an initiation process that has four stages and includes hazing. The first stage is a loyalty oath, on the order of “I’m a proud Western chauvinist, I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world”; the second is getting punched until the person recites pop culture trivia, such as the names of five breakfast cereals; the third is getting a tattoo and agreeing to not masturbate; and the fourth is getting into a major fight “for the cause”. The masturbation policy was later modified to read: “no heterosexual brother of the Fraternity shall masturbate more than one time in any calendar month” and “all members shall abstain from pornography”.
I assume this means Proud Boys make a calendar entry when they spank the monkey. But it gets better. In 2018 The Daily Beast reported that the Proud Boys amended their rules to prohibit cargo shorts and the use of opioids and crystal meth. However, the same article mentioned that no restrictions were placed on cocaine.