Editor’s note: A new Netflix documentary series, “Tiger King,” covers the dark world of private zoos and exotic animal breeding, including an unbelievable murder-for-hire plot that The Post covered. The series is available now on Netflix, and sheds new light on the rivalry between big-cat eccentrics. The following is an excerpt from a Post article from 2019, republished in cooperation with Netflix.
Zookeeper ‘Joe Exotic’ found guilty in murder-for-hire plot
By Chris Perez
Published: April 2, 2019
“Joe Exotic” — the ex-Oklahoma zookeeper and former candidate for governor who was accused in a federal murder-for-hire plot last year — was found guilty Tuesday on all charges.
The 56-year-old, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, had been charged with paying someone to kill a sanctuary owner in Florida who had criticized his treatment of animals. The individual was not harmed.
Maldonado-Passage, who entered a not guilty plea, tried testifying in his own defense Monday — against the judge’s wishes, according to local reports. He wound up being convicted on two counts of hiring a person to commit murder.
An FBI agent was able to bust Maldonado-Passage by posing as an undercover hitman. The former zookeeper claimed he knew that he was being duped and played along to gather information.
Prosecutors, however, provided evidence at the trial — including more than a dozen videos and Facebook posts of “Joe Exotic” threatening to kill the sanctuary operator, Carole Baskin — to prove that he was out for blood.
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“You want to know why Carole Baskin better never, ever, ever see me face to face ever, ever, ever again?” Maldonado-Passage reportedly asked in one clip, before shooting a blowup “Carole” doll in the head with a revolver. “That is how sick and tired of this … I am.”
Baskin told jurors that the “onslaught” of threats prompted her to obtain a concealed carry permit — which allows her to carry a gun at all times.
“I felt like my life was in danger,” she told The Oklahoman. “I believe that he blames me for everything that’s gone wrong in his life.”
Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, had been fighting to stop Maldonado-Passage from owning tiger cubs and using them in a traveling show that he ran. She once sued the blond-haired zookeeper for more than $1 million after he renamed the show “Big Cat Rescue Entertainment.”
In addition to the murder-for-hire plot, Maldonado-Passage was also accused of killing tigers and selling cubs. He was found guilty Tuesday on those charges, as well.
PETA praised the convictions in a statement, saying he has been on the group’s radar “for years” as a “notorious animal abuser and as the primary supplier of big-cat cubs for the cruel cub-petting industry.”
“PETA already succeeded in getting 39 tigers, three bears, two baboons, and two chimpanzees out of his hands and into reputable sanctuaries,” officials said. “The world will be a safer place for all living beings with this man behind bars, where he can no longer harm animals or the animal advocates he hanged in effigy.”
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