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.

  • ABCDE@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    8 个月前

    Without the people willing to torture and murder the animals it wouldn’t have happened.

        • magnusrufus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          8 个月前

          No one is saying that’s not true. You are not making a point there. Connecting the people willing to do it to the people willing to view it increases demand and increases the occurrence.

          • ABCDE@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            8 个月前

            You don’t seem to be making a very different point here. Yes, it increases demand, but, as I said, those committing the violence are the ones who should be held more to account in my opinion, which is what start this conversation chain.

            • magnusrufus@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              8 个月前

              The start of the conversation seems to be someone saying that what he did was fucked up and he deserves more than 5 years for it. Then you wanted to make a distinction about his role in the torture for entertainment industry. If your point was that the people committing the torture directly should receive longer sentences than him then you did just about the worst job possible to convey that.

              • ABCDE@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                8 个月前

                Yes, running chat groups is not as bad as actually torturing and killing monkeys.

                I made it pretty clear yesterday.

                • magnusrufus@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  8 个月前

                  No you didn’t. That doesn’t make your supposed point that the people that did the torture directly deserve more time in jail than him. You took a weird stand at a weird time and communicated it very poorly the whole way through.

                  • ABCDE@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    4
                    ·
                    8 个月前

                    Yes it does. “A weird time”? I don’t choose to post at specific times of the day. Never mind then.