New Jersey Man Sentenced for Role in Monkey Torture Ring

A man from New Jersey has been found guilty of serving as an intermediary in a disturbing monkey torture operation that produced and distributed videos showing young chimpanzees being subjected to physical and sexual abuse by minors.

Giancarlo Morelli has received a four-year prison sentence for his involvement in the conspiracy to create and sell these horrific fetish films, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In June 2024, Morelli was arrested alongside his co-conspirator, Nicholas T. Dryden from Cincinnati. Prosecutors reported that the two were discovered communicating in private online spaces focused on monkey torture and mutilation between March and April 2023.

In addition, Iowa attorney Philip Colt Moss was taken into custody in August with similar charges.

The videos in question range from only a few seconds to an unsettling 42 minutes. A 2024 indictment claims that Morelli facilitated 28 payments to Dryden, with amounts varying from $40 to $379. This money then went to a child in Indonesia, who acted out the requested abuses.

It appears that they coordinated various forms of monkey torture, including a particularly troubling method known as “animal crushing.” However, charges for actually producing this vile content were brought solely against Dryden.

Following Moss’s arrest, federal authorities described the torturous acts depicted in the videos, mentioning instances of “monkey genitals being burned, cut off with scissors, sodomized with a wooden skewer, and sodomized with a spoon.”

Interestingly, the term “animal crushing” was originally linked to women in high heels trampling animals but has since come to encompass a wider range of brutal acts.

The creation and distribution of material featuring animal abuse were outlawed under the Animal Cruelty Prevention Act of 2010. This law was later strengthened by the Animal Cruelty and Torture Prevention Act of 2019, which designated such acts as federal offenses.

The Justice Department noted that Morelli commissioned the release of at least 20 explicit video recordings of monkey torture and maintained an ongoing communication with the individual responsible, even giving feedback on some content.

Dryden also chimed in with messages of approval, reportedly saying things like, “This is the best video you’ve ever made. I don’t care. Go ahead and kill me. I’m going to buy another one tomorrow,” as indicated in the indictment.

Dominic Gerace II, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, emphasized the gravity of the situation: “If you pay someone to torture an animal or share images of their horrific abuse, you can expect to be held accountable as if you had directly committed the torture.”

Morelli had initially pleaded guilty in January, and shortly after, 11 others linked to this case were indicted on federal charges.