There are lots of tales about January 6 that fall by the wayside. Some January 6 defendants bought in depth media protection, particularly within the fast aftermath of January 6, however this isn’t consultant of the general physique. Most defendants have remained anonymous, faceless hostages. Actual People have been rendered as caricatures as a approach of pigeonholing them and glossing over the true experiences of that difficult day.
Reminder that most individuals on January 6 had been totally peaceable and had been outraged over seeing Americans hit with tear fuel and flash bang grenades. January 6 was instigated by a handful of agitators within the crowds and malicious/incompetent officers failing to do their jobs… pic.twitter.com/1gV9oKZSI8
— Tim Hale – Criminally Humorous J6er (@LouisofMonmouth) July 17, 2024
Michael Curzio was one of many first January 6 defendants and one of many handful truly arrested contained in the Capitol constructing on January 6. He was apprehended in the course of making an attempt to report extreme police drive contained in the Capitol Customer Middle, solely ft away from me. Curzio was taken by the Capitol and into underground tunnels in Washington, D.C., to a police station, the place he was processed, given a quotation and a discover to seem, and launched on his recognizance.
Regardless of being ticketed for misdemeanors, he could be rearrested in a while in his dwelling state of Florida. He was raided on the highway, threatened by an officer with having his face shot off, and throughout misdemeanors. Curzio was denied bail by a Justice of the Peace Decide, regardless of having nonviolent prices, and compelled to expertise “diesel remedy,” shuffled across the nation by the US Marshals. It was in Oklahoma that he was housed within the common inhabitants in a most safety jail earlier than linking up with a gaggle of January 6 defendants, together with myself. Michael Curzio, myself, Jeffrey Sabol, and Patrick McCaughey III would start the custom amongst January 6 hostages of singing the nationwide anthem collectively whereas nonetheless being moved by the Marshals earlier than boarding “Con Air.”
Michael Curzio and I arrived within the DC jail, or the “DC Gulag,” on February 3, 2021. Like the remainder of us, Curzio was denied bond and once more once more by his District Decide. Decide Carl Nichols, paradoxically thought of one of many fairest judges after his rulings on 18 USC 1512 (agreed with by a majority of SCOTUS), but pressured Curzio to remain housed in solitary confinement with myself and others within the C2B wing of the DC jail’s Central Therapy Facility (the “Patriot Pod”).
“Steel Mike” Curzio is a steel musician and gifted vocalist. Curzio turned a staple of life contained in the DC jail. Whereas locked down a lot of the day, day-after-day, he entertained the inmates by singing loud sufficient to fill the complete wing of the jail, together with his track “LockDown.”
For almost all of his time in DC, he was within the cell subsequent to mine. I used to be in Cell #16 (or 1/6 because it was referred to as), and Mike was in Cell #15. I had the pleasure of watching him create a number of songs whereas incarcerated, together with “Patriot Anthem.” He has since made professionally recorded variations of his basic songs. Whether or not his personal songs like “Pursuit and Destroy” or track covers like Disturbed’s “Stupify,” Steel Mike saved dozens of political prisoners entertained whereas locked in solitary.
Michael turned a member of the custodian workforce early on, becoming a member of the only element member on the time, Cleveland Grover Meredith. He cleaned the pod, served meals, relayed messages, and many others. This position allowed Curzio extra outing of his jail cell which was the one approach he might attain his household by cellphone.
Curzio ended up taking a misdemeanor plea deal upon studying of his father’s stage 4 most cancers. Initially, Decide Nichols refused to permit him to plead responsible, stalling to permit the DOJ to search out felonious conduct to kind a foundation for a felony indictment.
I synced @MetalMikeCurzio‘s mobile phone footage from the Senate Wing Door hallway with CCTV. Positive sufficient, on the finish of the hallway you hear a protestor inform one other man “It’s that approach. That’s why they’re not letting us go *that* approach.” Capitol PD had been solely blocking some hallways. pic.twitter.com/j7vzhV8Xns
— Tim Hale – Criminally Humorous J6er (@LouisofMonmouth) January 2, 2025
They discovered nothing as a result of, as CCTV exhibits, he spent his time peacefully strolling by the Capitol constructing after it had been opened up from the within. Not solely had Curzio not harmed or threatened an officer, he repeatedly inspired regulation enforcement, fist-bumped and shook palms with Capitol Police, and many others.
Wow, @MetalMikeCurzio, what sort of scumbag has peaceable conversations with Capitol Police contained in the Capitol, thanks them for his or her service, and pats them on the again? You deserved that half a yr in solitary, you January 6 insurrectionist! pic.twitter.com/W9A5LOXIEo
— Tim Hale – Criminally Humorous J6er (@LouisofMonmouth) January 4, 2025
The worst Curzio did was try and report Police attacking protestors within the Capitol Customer Middle. I used to be there myself and witnessed this. I personally was even chastised in Court docket for making an attempt to assist a person off the bottom I assumed the Capitol Police had injured. Even then, CCTV and private mobile phone video exhibits that we spent about 10 minutes speaking to the Capitol Police peacefully contained in the Capitol Customer Middle earlier than being led out of the building-
Bear in mind when January 6 defendant Katelyn Bartow gave a speech within the Capitol Customer Middle which ended the hostility between protestors and Capitol Police after which each side spoke to eachother like accountable residents and hugged it out however Katelyn was charged anyway? Bizarre.… pic.twitter.com/twAYuMDARo
— Tim Hale – Criminally Humorous J6er (@LouisofMonmouth) January 11, 2024
This chapter of January 6 was suppressed as a result of it damage the narrative that individuals who went contained in the Capitol had been a violent mob. Opposite to what a rational individual would count on, the “revolt” was much less violent contained in the Capitol constructing than exterior.
When Decide Nichols realized he couldn’t maintain Michael Curzio longer for a felony cost that wasn’t coming he lastly accepted a responsible plea. Nearly exceptional, even for January 6 defendants, Nichols pressured Curzio to serve the maxed out sentence for his misdemeanor cost of 6 months. Curzio was sentenced at 2 days wanting 6 months. Nichols refused to offer Curzio time served, making him served the remaining 2 days within the DC Gulag, in one of the vital petty rulings delivered by the handful of judges to deal with January 6 instances.
Mike has since rebuilt his life. I had the pleasure of reconnecting with him, after 3 years of my very own incarceration, and recorded the primary of many interviews I’ll be releasing with the unique inmates of the DC Gulag. That is January 6 Unfiltered with Michael Curzio:
It doesn’t cease there. Now that my conviction has been overturned in court docket, and my supervised launch circumstances are gone, I can converse freely with the patriots I languished with behind bars within the DC Gulag. With every day, increasingly more signed on to inform their story. What actually occurred on January 6, how they had been smeared by the feds and media, and what they suffered by whereas locked up.
My cellphone has been on hearth right this moment as I reconnected with most of the males I used to be incarcerated with after January 6. And I’m now ready to unveil a challenge that has been simmering in my head a while.
For 3 years after January 6, as I and different J6 political prisoners languished… pic.twitter.com/mForP3n8Ky
— Tim Hale – Criminally Humorous J6er (@LouisofMonmouth) December 26, 2024
These interviews, together with lots of of pages of main paperwork, will kind the idea for a multi-volume historical past collection, Artifice and Betrayal: The Historical past of the DC Gulag. Now that their voices have been restored, the defendants would be the ones to write down the authoritative historical past of January 6 and the lawfare that adopted, not the prosecutors and media. To study extra about “Steel Mike” Curzio within the meantime you’ll find him HERE.
Michael Curzio was misrepresented as a white supremacist, denied due course of, and held in solitary confinement. He misplaced the whole lot. Now he’s free, employed, with a roof over his head and a loving spouse in his life. Steel Mike is proof that there’s a future for these persecuted over January 6. To these hostages of the Biden regime who’ve suffered vastly – there are new beginnings over the horizon.
