Creepy NYC sextortion linked to sick international neo-Nazi cult targeting vulnerable kids online
The online sextortion group known as “Greggy’s Cult” was dismantled by federal agents this week, and authorities discovered that it was connected to a global neo‑Nazi network that has lured children into violence, self‑harm and even murder.
According to a new indictment filed by Brooklyn federal prosecutors, five alleged leaders of the gang scoured video‑game communities for kids as young as eleven, forcing them to produce sexually explicit footage and to mark themselves as a sign of loyalty to the offenders.
But that was just the visible tip of a far larger operation, the federal investigators said.
A loosely‑connected network called “764” — an online cult of predators founded in 2020 by a fifteen‑year‑old Texas dropout named Bradley Cadenhead — also fed into the Greggy’s Cult, the prosecution noted.
“Greggy’s Cult existed before the sadistic extortion group 764, and many prominent members of 764 and other similar networks also belonged to Greggy’s Cult,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York explained in a statement.
Cadenhead is currently serving an eighty‑year federal sentence, yet the 764 organization has survived through the participation of other actors.
A June report from the Anti‑Defamation League describes 764 as a splinter of the Order of Nine Angels (O9A), a far‑right faction that mixes Satanic beliefs with neo‑Nazi ideology.
Victims—often vulnerable teens grappling with questions of sexuality, eating disorders or mental illness—are recruited on gaming platforms such as Roblox and then lured to messaging apps like Discord.
Once they’re in contact, cult members manipulate them by demanding increasingly extreme acts to prove their devotion, including killing pets or engaging in self‑harm. “Self‑cutting is also pervasive among those tied to 764,” the ADL report added.
The organization’s inspiration traces back to a Russian‑Ukrainian neo‑Nazi group called the Maniac Murder Cult (MKY), formed as early as 2017.
Many of the cult’s followers have committed mass‑scale crimes. A teenager who opened fire at Antioch High School in Tennessee in January claimed he did so for MKY. Other incidents linked to 764 and its associates include an 18‑year‑old livestreaming a stabbing outside a mosque in Turkey in August 2024 and a 17‑year‑old German resident of Romania broadcasting a throat‑slitting attack in April 2022.
The Department of Justice has begun to break up these shadowy groups, filing indictments against two alleged 764 leaders—Leonidas Varagiannis, an American living in Greece, and Prasan Nebas, a North Carolina resident—in Washington, D.C., in June.
Earlier this year, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and deputy commissioner for intelligence and counter‑terrorism Rebecca Weiner warned parents about the threat of cults like 764 in an op‑ed in The Post, declaring that dismantling these networks is a top national security priority in the U.S. and Europe, yet many parents remain unaware of their existence.
In the current case, prosecutors charged five men—including Queens resident Hector Bermudez, 29—with child exploitation, conspiracy to produce child pornography and other offenses related to leading Greggy’s Cult. Bermudez, as well as Rumaldo Valez (Hawaii, 22), Camden Rodriguez (Colorado, 22), Zachary Dosch (New Mexico, 26) and David Brilhante (California, 28), faced accusations of “depraved conduct, such as repeatedly encouraging victims to kill themselves or inserting household objects into their genitals or anus.”
Bermudez and his associates operated from January 2020 to January 2021, but prosecutors say that some continued to target minors even after the cult disbanded and its Discord server was removed. Rodriguez allegedly attempted to extort a minor as recently as April, while Bermudez is said to have targeted at least two minors in June; Brilhante is accused of sending child pornography in September 2024.
“We strongly urge parents and caregivers to talk with their children about the dangers of interacting with strangers online and of individuals who seek to exploit them for cruel ends,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said as he announced the indictment.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
