Day: January 21, 2025

A BROOKLYNITE honored for his immigration advocacy was among those whom former President Joe Biden granted clemency.

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A number of New Yorkers were among the roughly 1,500 accused or convicted of roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol received pardons from President Donald Trump on the first day of his second administration Monday.

The individuals pardoned by Trump were part of an angry mob that stormed the Capitol that day four years ago in an effort to interrupt the Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump had lost to Joe Biden. Hundreds of Capitol police officers were injured in the uprising, and members of Congress — including then-Vice President Mike Pence — were sent into hiding in fear of their lives. The riot delayed, but ultimately did not stop, the election’s certification, which concluded early the following morning.

Over the four years that followed, federal law enforcement charged more than 1,500 people from all 50 states and the District of Columbia for their roles in the ugliness. The individuals charged in the attack included die-hard Trump supporters, white supremacists, militia members, conspiracy theorists and others. 

Jan. 6, 2021 marked the first interruption of the peaceful transfer of presidential power since the Civil War, and the first assault on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812. It outraged many Americans, though in the years that followed, Trump and many of his supporters downplayed the incident’s significance and decried the prosecution of those responsible for the insurrection as political.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump called many of those prosecuted and jailed for the Jan. 6 insurrection “hostages,” and vowed to pardon them on his first day in office — a promise he ultimately kept Monday, hours after taking an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The pardon proclamation that Trump issued Monday grants “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” The recipients of the pardon will receive official certificates from the attorney general. Trump also further directed those jailed for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection be immediately released.

The president also directed the attorney general “to pursue dismissal with prejudice to the government of all pending indictments against individuals for their conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Based on Trump’s proclamation, the following New York residents who were prosecuted and either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of charges in the Jan. 6 insurrection have been pardoned:

Aaron Mostofsky, 34, who was cuffed on Jan. 12, 2021 after he was caught on camera inside the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 attack, wearing a fur costume and holding a riot shield apparently wrested away from a Capitol Police officer. Mostofsky, the son of Brooklyn Judge Shlomo Mostofsky, was also seen wearing a bulletproof vest during the incident, apparently also taken from a Capitol cop. In May 2022, he was sentenced to eight months in prison.

Nicolas Moncada, 20, of Staten Island, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, as shown on video posted to Instagram and Twitter. His image, taken from inside the Rotunda, was recognized two days after the attack by members of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s campus security unit, where Moncada was a student. In January 2024, he was ordered to serve 36 months’ probation and pay a $500 fine.

Dominick Madden, 43, was picked up by the FBI at his Sheepshead Bay home on Jan. 21, 2021. Madden, who had been a New York City Sanitation worker and QAnon sympathizer, was caught on camera in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 waving a Trump flag and shouting the QAnon slogan, while wearing a QAnon sweater. Madden was later caught on camera that same afternoon inside the Capitol entering the building along with thousands of other invaders and walking through the Rotunda and Senate wing. He was sentenced to 20 days in prison and ordered to pay a $500 fine. 

Samuel Fisher of the Upper East Side, who also went by the name Brad Holiday, brought “multiple firearms and a bulletproof vest” with him to the Capitol coup attempt on Jan. 6. The day after the attack, Jan. 7, Fisher allegedly wrote on Facebook that he was there, “it was awesome…” and that “people died… but if was f***ing great if you ask me… i got tear gassed and pepper sprayed (sic)… seeing cops literally run … was the coolest thing ive ever seen in my life.” Fisher pleaded guilty on July 6, 2022 to federal charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building, and disorderly and disruptive conduct.

Philip Grillo, 46, was picked up at his girlfriend’s home in Glen Oaks, Queens on Feb. 23, 2021. At the time, he had been a Republican district leader who made a failed attempted at running in a 2021 special election for the vacant 24th City Council District seat, according to the Queens Daily Eagle.

Richmond Hill’s Sara Carpenter, 51, retired from the NYPD in 2004, but wound up in federal handcuffs in March 2021. On Jan. 6, she allegedly decided to help storm the Capitol along with rest of the mob. She was sentenced in January 2024 to 22 months in prison, followed by 24 months supervised release, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. 

Dovid Schwartzberg, 19, confessed to breaking into the historic building because, as he told police, he had wanted to “be where the action was.” He entered the Capitol through a broken window after attending Trump’s rally outside the facility, before recording several videos, which he posted to the social media platform TikTok under his handle @dovidsberg26. He was sentenced on Sept. 7, 2022 to 45 days in prison and ordered to pay a $500 fine.

Jia Liu, 26, of Queens was charged on Oct. 29, 2021 with four misdemeanors in connection to the Capitol attack. According to court documents, Liu was allegedly spotted on two separate occasions entering the Capitol building at 3:24 p.m. and exiting at 3:31 p.m. by climbing through an open window. He was sentenced on June 15, 2023 to four months in prison, followed by 12 months parole; he was also ordered to pay a $500 fine. 

Patricia Todisco, of Staten Island, was picked up in New Jersey on Jan. 22, 2021 after being caught on camera filming the insurrection inside the Capitol as part of the mob. She was also seen trespassing in the office of Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley. Todisco pleaded not guilty to the charges against her in March and is awaiting further prosecution. She was sentenced on July 12, 2022 to 36 months probation, 60 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.

Anton Lunyk, 26, of Brooklyn was picked up on May 20, 2021 after being caught on camera numerous times at the Capitol, including within a Senator’s working space. He was sentenced to 12 months’ supervised release and 60 hours of community service, while also ordered to pay a $1,242 fine.

Daniel Christmann of Brooklyn trespassed inside an interior room within the Capitol during the insurrection and posted a photo of the act on his Instagram account. He was arrested on July 28, 2021 on four federal charges, including disorderly conduct; after pleading guilty, he was sentenced in June 2024 to 25 days in jail and ordered to pay $500 in restitution.

Antonio Ferrigno, 26, and Francis Connor, 23, both of Brooklyn, were arrested on Aug. 31, 2021 after being caught on camera inside the Capitol during the insurrection. Ferrigno was picked up in Brooklyn, while Connor was apprehended in Tennessee. Both are awaiting prosecution. They were each sentenced in September 2022 to serve 12 months probation, including two months of house arrest; perform 60 hours of community service; and pay $871 in fines and restitution.

With reporting by Emily Davenport and Aidan Graham

Note: Information about the sentencing of these individuals can be found at Insurrectionist Index, a database tracking the court cases of those allegedly involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.