Well, it's a controversial type of gotcha vigilantism
that many in law enforcement are just not in favor of.
Regular citizens lure alleged child predators
to remote locations with the intention
of confronting them and then
posting their identities online
for hundred of thousands of people to see
and they stream it live.
Let's start by talking to one
of those pedophile hunters, Tony.
He's the founder of "Team Loyalty Makes You Family."
Take a look.
My name's Tony, I'm from Brooklyn New York,
I'm a plumber by day and a predator hunter by night.
This is Bushwick, New York, Brooklyn,
this is where most of my exposures happen.
This is where we like to meet the predators.
When they come right off the train,
I meet 'em right on the corner.
So I started the page about a year ago,
we've exposed about 27 predators.
Predators are being hunted.
You got exposed, you 44 years old
trying to meet a 14 year old girl.
The best thing to do right now is don't lie to me,
all right, and don't--
Am I gonna get arrested? You can talk to me.
Listen, don't start crying now?
New York City, baby, this is what it's about.
Anybody that's looking to meet up with a child is a coward.
These guys don't scare me.
I come out by myself, I don't feel the need
to have anybody with me.
I have a very strict guideline on what I do.
Decoys, they are the operation.
Without decoys, this is impossible?
Hey.
What do we got, anything?
Yeah, we have a guy that's on the line
that we've been talking to for a few days now.
A decoy can be a man or a woman,
and they're the ones that go online and play as a child.
And my decoys, we don't initiate or speak anything sexual.
I don't even allow them to use emojis.
We're on our way.
Will you let me know you're there?
[Alleged Predator] Okay, I'll call you when I get there.
There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a grown man
thinking he's talking to a child,
and his intention is to come down to have sex with someone
at 2:00 in the morning, in the middle of Brooklyn,
and there is no child, it's me standing there,
and I'm gonna put the fear of God in to you.
I'm a survivor myself.
I was a victim.
It's just got a lot more meaning to me.
Now you get to confront the person that (sighs).
(sirens wail)
Law enforcement's a joke when it comes to this.
I could call the cops right now
and say there's a man on the corner selling heroine,
and I'd have 15 cop cars out here.
I call the cops and say there's a man to meet
to have sex with what he thought was a 13 year old kid
and nobody would show up.
I love doing what I do.
It's almost like being a superhero.
When I do this thing, it's the most euphoric high
you could ever have.
There he goes.
Everything is going to the D.A
of the state of New York, brother.
It gives me great gratitude in helping someone
that may be a victim.
I'm not here to be friends with these guys,
I'm here to expose you and shame you.
Well Tony is a plumber, he's the father of two children,
and Tony, as you were saying, your motivation here is clear,
you've been on the bad end of this,
'cause you were a victim as a child, right?
Yes.
And I'm very sorry about that,
by the way. It's fine.
So you get satisfaction, it's curative for you,
it's cathartic for you to do this.
Yeah, it's almost like psychiatry I guess you'd call it.
So what is your method of pedophile hunting,
how do you do this?
It's very simple.
We post ads on a lot of different platforms.
We'll say you know, we're 19 or 20,
because we can't make a profile
being the age of 13 or 14,
and when somebody messages, we'll let them know,
you know listen, my age isn't 18 or 19,
I'm really 13, 14, or 15, and we'll just sit back and wait,
and listen, see what they're gonna do.
So you don't put an ad up and say,
I'm a 13 year old waiting to be exploited,
you say, I'm of age, but then when they respond,
you then say--
I let them know immediately. Immediately,
and you don't bait them in terms of any sexual
provocativeness, or anything like that.
No, we don't initiate any sex chat,
I don't even use emojis, kissy emojis, winky emojis,
nothing like that.
Okay, and you say decoys that talk to them,
they need to talk to 'em for at least two weeks
to find out if in fact they've got bad intentions,
and they're gonna follow through with it.
And you say you have no fear,
and you're exposing predators
in the biggest city in the world
on the meanest streets in that city.