Growing up in the 1980s, I remember the so-called Satanic Panic. People were convinced satanic cults were everywhere and were abusing, if not sacrificing, children in pretty much every community across the nation.
It was, eventually, shown to have been overblown...or was it? A recent FBI bust suggests it might not have been.
It doesn't directly tie into any groups from that period or anything, to be clear, but the arrests are still troubling.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel announced the arrest of two alleged leaders of a violent child exploitation network connected to a Satanic, neo-Nazi group.
Authorities arrested Leanoidis Varagiannis, or War, 21, and Prasan Nepal, or Trippy, 20, in April, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release. Varagiannis, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in Greece on Monday. Nepal was arrested in North Carolina on April 22.
Patel announced the arrest of Varagiannis and Nepal online on Wednesday.
“Working with [the DOJ] and [Attorney General Pam Bondi], I can now report the FBI and our partners have arrested two individuals on charges of operating an international child exploitation enterprise.”
“This is a significant case in our renewed mission to crack down on child sexual exploitation and abuse — heinous crimes that no child or parent should ever be faced with,” he added.
...
The group is a “satanic cult,” according to a CBC News investigation.“Police say 764 and its related groups are terrorizing thousands of children around the world. Its members prowl on popular platforms and lure vulnerable minors into private groups where they push them to self-harm, hurt their pets, and kill themselves,” the Canadian outlet reported.
764 has been influenced by the satanic neo-Nazi Order of Nine Angels (09A), according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), citing court documents.
Child exploitation is terrible in and of itself. It's one of the worst things a person can do, so that this happens is awful beyond words.
The fact that you're looking at a group that is, essentially, a satanic cult that engages in child exploitation for any purpose whatsoever is horrifying.
These two who were arrested could face life in prison if convicted, and since inmates have a supreme disdain for those who hurt children and take a certain pride in hurting those folks, that could amount to a fairly short sentence. I mean, if life ends, so does the sentence.
I cannot find it within me to shed a single tear at the thought of that happening.
I'll probably laugh, though.
Yet the overall problem here is that this happens at all, and the fact that this organization is described as a satanic cult conjures thoughts of the Satanic Panic. While this is probably less connected than some of us might like to think, it's definitely something I cannot dismiss out of hand.
I'm glad these two were arrested. Now, I hope they can round up the rest of this bunch and throw the book at them collectively. Anyone and everyone remotely involved with this needs to, at a minimum, spend the rest of their lives behind bars with no possibility of breathing free air again.