Hansen vs. Predator (partially lost chatlogs, uncut interviews and police interrogations; 2015): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:27, 17 April 2023

This article has been tagged as NSFL due to its disturbing subject matter.

Uncut version of Chris Hansen confronting John Dupee.

Status: Partially Lost

Hansen vs. Predator (also abbreviated to HvP) is a hidden camera investigation series broadcast on Crime Watch Daily in 2016. Running for a single season, it was a spiritual successor of To Catch a Predator, a reality series from the TV news program Dateline NBC, featuring host Chris Hansen confronting adult men arriving at a sting house with the intent to have sex with minors between the ages of 12 to 13, following an often graphic online conversation with the child.^[1] In reality, the "minors" were adult decoys from the online watchdog group Tetrad Core, who would establish online profiles of underage individuals that would wait for adults to initiate a conversation with them. The sole investigation, conducted in October 2015 in Fairfield, Connecticut, resulted in the arrests and convictions of eleven men.^[2]

Full Chatlogs, Interviews and Interrogations

Unlike the chatlogs of most TCAP predators, which can be easily accessed on Perverted Justice's website, the HvP chatlogs were not publicly made available by Tetrad Core. However, despite the organization disbanding sometime in mid-2017,^[3] the majority of chatlogs and associated images have since been found and uploaded in full to YouTube, with most videos providing narration. Of eleven chatlogs, only Stephen Buchanan, Michael Popovich and David Tiriolo remained unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, the edited versions of each predator confrontation can be easily accessed on YouTube. However, the uncut interviews and subsequent police interrogations proved difficult to access. Initially, most uncut footage was published on Chris Hansen's own website as part of a subscription service. Among these consisted of footage of Vincent Ambrosio, a nineteen-year-old whose segment was never broadcast on Crime Watch Daily due to concerns regarding Ambrosio's well-being when the sting occurred. However, Hansen's website became inaccessible in January 2020 following Hansen's firing of web producer Vincent Nicotra, who in response suspended the website with the message "Hansen vs Predators is suspended due to non-payment." ^[4]

With the help of various YouTubers, the majority of the uncut footage has since been recovered and uploaded to YouTube. Of the Hansen confrontations, only three, concerning Mike Manzi, Charles Lawrence and Michael Gentile, have yet to surface. Because Lawrence and Gentile's interactions with Hansen were so brief (with Gentile leaving without even giving Chris a chance to introduce himself), it is unlikely uncut versions of these interactions will ever be released. Regarding police interrogations, the uncut interviews of Popovich and Gentile are completely inaccessible, whereas only highlights of Buchanan and Jesse Velez have resurfaced, sourced from their original and uncut interview uploads.

In 2023, YouTuber SunnyV2 uploaded a video which featured a leaked text conversation between a former Hansen vs. Predator editor and a TCAP fan. In the exchange, it was revealed that the head of security Ron Knight is Manzi's uncle, and the reason the uncut footage was never released is because Knight requested that the relationship between the two was not revealed on the show. Because of this, the uncut Manzi confrontation will most likely never be released unless leaked by a former crew member, although given Knight's request, it is unlikely this will happen either.

Status of Full Chatlogs, Interviews and Interrogations

Predator	Chatlog	Uncut Hansen Confrontation	Uncut Police Interrogation
Stephen Buchanan	Lost	Found	Partially found
Joshua Colon	Found	Found	Found
John Dupee	Found	Found	Found
Jesse Velez	Found	Found	Partially found
Mike Manzi	Found	Lost	Found
Charles Lawrence	Found	Lost	Found
Michael Popovich	Lost	N/A	Lost
David Tiriolo	Lost	N/A	Found
Jeff Sokol	Found	Found	Found
Michael Gentile	Found	Lost	Lost
Vincent Ambrosio	Found	Found	Found

References

↑ Interview with Chris Hansen regarding Hansen vs. Predator. Retrieved 15 Dec '20
↑ Description of Tetrad Core. Retrieved 15 Dec '20
↑ Temple of TCAP forum discussing Tetrad Core's disbandment. Retrieved 15 Dec '20
↑ Reclaim The Net article regarding the inaccessibility of Hansen's website. Retrieved 15 Dec '20

[interview-1] Interview with Chris Hansen regarding Hansen vs. Predator. Retrieved 15 Dec '20

[tetrad-2] Description of Tetrad Core. Retrieved 15 Dec '20

[disbandment-3] Temple of TCAP forum discussing Tetrad Core's disbandment. Retrieved 15 Dec '20

[closure-4] Reclaim The Net article regarding the inaccessibility of Hansen's website. Retrieved 15 Dec '20

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 Meanwhile, the edited versions of each predator confrontation can be easily accessed on YouTube. However, the uncut interviews and subsequent police interrogations proved difficult to access. Initially, most uncut footage was published on Chris Hansen's own website as part of a subscription service. Among these consisted of footage of Vincent Ambrosio, a nineteen-year-old whose segment was never broadcast on Crime Watch Daily due to concerns regarding Ambrosio's well-being when the sting occurred. However, Hansen's website became inaccessible in January 2020 following Hansen's firing of web producer Vincent Nicotra, who in response suspended the website with the message "Hansen vs Predators is suspended due to non-payment." <ref name="closure">[https://reclaimthenet.org/hansen-website-memes-mugshot/#:~:text=Now%20the%20homepage%20of%20the,mugshot%20and%20several%20Hansen%20memes.&text=Nicotra%20is%20alleging%20that%20Hansen,The%20Hansen%20vs Reclaim The Net article regarding the inaccessibility of Hansen's website.] Retrieved 15 Dec '20</ref>
-With the help of various YouTubers, the majority of the footage has since been recovered and uploaded to YouTube. Of the Hansen confrontations, only two, concerning Mike Manzi, Charles Lawrence and Michael Gentile, have yet to surface. Because Lawrence and Gentile's interactions with Hansen were so brief (with Gentile leaving without even giving Chris a chance to introduce himself), it is unlikely uncut versions of these interactions will ever be released. Regarding police interrogations, the uncut interviews of Popovich and Gentile are completely inaccessible, whereas only highlights of Buchanan and Jesse Velez have resurfaced, sourced from their uncut interview uploads.
+With the help of various YouTubers, the majority of the uncut footage has since been recovered and uploaded to YouTube. Of the Hansen confrontations, only three, concerning Mike Manzi, Charles Lawrence and Michael Gentile, have yet to surface. Because Lawrence and Gentile's interactions with Hansen were so brief (with Gentile leaving without even giving Chris a chance to introduce himself), it is unlikely uncut versions of these interactions will ever be released. Regarding police interrogations, the uncut interviews of Popovich and Gentile are completely inaccessible, whereas only highlights of Buchanan and Jesse Velez have resurfaced, sourced from their original and uncut interview uploads.
 In 2023, YouTuber SunnyV2 uploaded a video which featured a leaked text conversation between a former ''Hansen vs. Predator'' editor and a TCAP fan. In the exchange, it was revealed that the head of security Ron Knight is Manzi's uncle, and the reason the uncut footage was never released is because Knight requested that the relationship between the two was not revealed on the show. Because of this, the uncut Manzi confrontation will most likely never be released unless leaked by a former crew member, although given Knight's request, it is unlikely this will happen either.