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.

  • PrefersAwkward@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    3 months ago

    Not condoning prison vigilante/revenge behavior, but if this guy’s fellow inmates find out what he did, and that is very easy to do, he may be in for a horrible time in prison. Not sure if he will be put into a ‘special-cases’ prison for his own safety or whether he’ll just go straight to a general public prison.

    He has really bad paperwork and fellow prisoners always find out what your paperwork is as soon as you land in your new prison. Torture of animals is among the worst things one can do.

    Again, I’m not condoning any of this. It’s just the reality this guy faces in American prisons