A year-long BBC investigation has uncovered a sadistic global monkey torture ring stretching from Indonesia to the United States.
The World Service found hundreds of customers in the US, UK and elsewhere paying Indonesians to torture and kill baby long-tailed macaques on film.
McCartney, a former motorcycle gang member who spent time in prison before entering the monkey torture world, ended up running several Telegram groups in which hardcore torture enthusiasts distributed videos.
"The Torture King" at home in Virginia. "It went from baby bottle teasing to fingers being snipped off," he said
The BBC also identified two other key suspects who are now being investigated by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - Stacey Storey, a grandmother in her 40s from Alabama who was known in the community as "Sadistic", and a ringleader known as "Mr Ape" - whose real name we cannot reveal for safety reasons.
"Mr Ape" confessed in an interview with the BBC that he had been responsible for the deaths of at least four monkeys and the torture of many more. He had commissioned "extremely brutal" videos, he said.
Storey's phone was seized by Department of Homeland Security agents, who found nearly 100 torture videos, as well as evidence that she had paid for the creation of some of the most extreme videos produced.
The World Service found hundreds of customers in the US, UK and elsewhere paying Indonesians to torture and kill baby long-tailed macaques on film.
McCartney, a former motorcycle gang member who spent time in prison before entering the monkey torture world, ended up running several Telegram groups in which hardcore torture enthusiasts distributed videos.
"The Torture King" at home in Virginia. "It went from baby bottle teasing to fingers being snipped off," he said
The BBC also identified two other key suspects who are now being investigated by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - Stacey Storey, a grandmother in her 40s from Alabama who was known in the community as "Sadistic", and a ringleader known as "Mr Ape" - whose real name we cannot reveal for safety reasons.
"Mr Ape" confessed in an interview with the BBC that he had been responsible for the deaths of at least four monkeys and the torture of many more. He had commissioned "extremely brutal" videos, he said.
Storey's phone was seized by Department of Homeland Security agents, who found nearly 100 torture videos, as well as evidence that she had paid for the creation of some of the most extreme videos produced.
