A man from Wharton, New Jersey, was sentenced to four years in prison for participating in online groups that created and shared videos of monkeys being brutally tortured and sexually abused, according to a press release from the Office of Public Affairs.
Giancarlo Morelli, a 39-year-old car salesman, was convicted of conspiring to create and distribute animal crush videos in which young monkeys were “crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled and mutilated.”
Morelli was involved in many Telegram chats dedicated to this disturbing torture content and was part of one group that had over 400 members.
Prosecutors said Morelli sent payments and specific requests for acts of torture to Nicholas Dryden — a central figure in the global monkey torture ring charged last year — who then relayed those requests to a 17-year-old boy in Indonesia responsible for creating the videos. Morelli also transferred money to other individuals to acquire footage for the Telegram group.
In one of the videos, a baby monkey is kicked, has their arms bent and twisted until they appear to break, is burned with a candle on their genitals, is attacked by a mongoose in a cage, has their legs broken, and is finally hurled against a wall and the floor.
Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates first exposed the barbaric underground world of baby monkey torture in 2021 after uncovering a private group that paid for custom videos online. Our investigations contributed to the BBC documentary The Monkey Haters and have been shared with law enforcement agencies globally.
Since then, numerous individuals connected to these groups have been charged and convicted.
The extreme abuse inflicted on these innocent monkeys is beyond heartbreaking and unacceptable. Morelli’s sentence is a step toward dismantling these networks, but ongoing vigilance and public action are essential to protect the most vulnerable animals. LFT remains steadfast in exposing this cruelty and pursuing justice until every animal is free from exploitation.
