Michael Macartney, 50, confessed to the BBC his role in an extreme monkey torture network.

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.

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.

Warning: This article contains disturbing content

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.

  • PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world
    11·
    8 months ago

    No. It does nothing to prevent these crimes from happening (let alone undo the damage) and you can’t say “this act is immoral and worthy of deliberately slow, cruel death… unless I do it then it’s fine”. It’s nothing more than bloodlust, leaving you with more in common with people buying monkey torture videos than with a genuinely good person.