https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68716467.amp Ringleader of global monkey torture network, 'The Torture King', is charged A ringleader in a global monkey torture network exposed by the BBC has been charged by US federal prosecutors. Michael Macartney, 50, who went by the alias "Torture King", was charged in Virginia with conspiracy to create and distribute animal-crushing videos. Spoiler Mr Macartney was one of three key distributors identified by the BBC Eye team during a year-long investigation into sadistic monkey torture groups. Two women have also been charged in the UK following the investigation. Mr Macartney, a former motorcycle gang member who previously spent time in prison, ran several chat groups for monkey torture enthusiasts from around the world on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. The groups were used to share ideas for custom-made torture videos, such as setting live monkeys on fire, injuring them with tools and even putting one in a blender. The ideas were then sent, along with payments, to video-makers in Indonesia who carried them out, sometimes killing the baby long-tailed macaque monkeys in the process. According to charging documents, Mr Macartney, who lives in the US state of Virginia, is accused by prosecutors of collecting funds from his chat groups and distributing videos depicting the "torture, murder, and sexually sadistic mutilation of animals, specifically juvenile and adult monkeys". Mr Macartney has cooperated with investigators from the Department of Homeland Security and agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges. He will formally make a plea later this month and is facing up to five years in prison. Speaking to the BBC Eye investigations team last year, Mr Macartney confessed to his role in the torture network, describing himself as the "king of this demented world". "I was the man," he said. "You want to see monkeys get messed up? I could bring it to you." Mr Macartney also described the moment he joined his first Telegram monkey group. "They had a poll set up," he said. "Do you want a hammer involved? Do you want pliers involved? Do you want a screwdriver?" The resulting videos were "the most grotesque thing I have ever seen", Mr Macartney said, and yet he went on to become a key player in the monkey torture groups. The BBC understands that more charges are expected to follow soon for other key players in the monkey torture network. At least 20 people were placed under investigation last year globally, following the BBC's investigation. Three participants have already been charged in the US, including Mr Macartney. Two torturers were arrested and jailed in Indonesia, and three women have been arrested in the UK, two of whom have been charged. Holly LeGresley, 37, of Kidderminster and Adriana Orme, 55, of Upton-upon Severn were charged last month with publishing an obscene article and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. Ms LeGresley and Ms Orme were high-profile members of the online torture groups. Ms LeGresley, who went by the screen name "The Immolator", was a moderator in a group run by Mr Macartney and was involved in commissioning some of the most extreme videos. In the US, two others have been charged with the same counts as Mr Macartney. David Christopher Noble, 48, a former US Air Force officer who was previously court-martialed and dismissed from the military, and Nicole Devilbiss, 35. They are both facing up to five years in prison.
I don’t understand how this is a thing, let alone an outsourced, international ring of horror. The number of people that had to agree to this awfulness is baffling.
it's a very niche sexual fetish. illegal fetishes like this are typically just solo operations. guy pays a sex worker, films the act, recoups his costs by selling the video on the dark web and gets his rocks off at the same time. but people get brazen, talk too much or the operation grows too much and local/state LE or the feds catch wind and bust them. that the ringleader isn't even involved in the fetish and just saw a way to capitalize and make a buck is sociopathic. this one is out there even for this fetish, though. all their jail time is sadly minimal because the actual "work" was outsourced.
They're probably all closeted serial killers but this way they still get the fix and only face a few years in jail vs life/death.
too much time on CJ and Ogrish growing up, learning about shit that shouldn't exist. worst I've ever seen is just cartel stuff, thank god.
you know how you see some outlandish shit that you'd never think you'd ever read about? well, neither did people when they made laws. a lot of laws we have about stuff relating to animals only came about after the fact. some lunatic does something with an animal, gets off light, and then lawmakers figure out how to close the loophole so nobody can skate on it again. the Brits are in the same place, the people in the UK arrested in this mess are getting off light as well because they don't have laws to prosecute them for breaking.
Is this where we talk about how cops kill peoples dogs all the time and face no repercussions? Wait that happens with people too nvm
the number is something insane like 25 dogs per day. 10,000 dogs a year. virtually never prosecuted (or prosecuted successfully). if you think what happens to humans is a tragedy, the animals they kill never get justice.
I have a list of people to kill if I ever get like “1 year to live, inoperable cancer” or something. He made the list, Chesapeake is close.
Getting a lot of questions my “not involved in an international monkey torture ring” shirt already answers
It’s odd to walk outside and live a semi-normal life, knowing that there are sick fucks out there like this.
"You want to see monkeys get messed up? I could bring it to you." Drunk monkeys would be cool as fuck. This is bad though.