Social media, a former TV reality show personality and a Twitter sleuth are being credited in helping identify members of the "clean cut hate gang" allegedly responsible for the Sept. 11 gay bashing of male couple in Philadelphia.

Up to 12 male and female suspects described as white and in their early 20s, who are believed to be responsible for the assault and robbery of two gay men in Philadelphia, found themselves as the unwitting stars of a viral video released by Philadelphia Police Tuesday.

According to Storify, the video, which quickly went viral on social media (read EDGE's story here), caught the eye of gay reality show personality Greg Bennett, formerly of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," who, was outraged by the incident, tweeted the video.

Shortly after Bennett's initial tweet, a friend of a friend sent him a photo showing the suspects in the video at a restaurant. Bennett's photo of the suspects, along with the video, was retweeted 372 times, catching the eye of Twitter user @FanSince09 who identified the location of the photo as La Viola, a restaurant not far from the scene of the hate crime.

Turning to Facebook Graph Search, @FanSince09 looked to see who checked into La Viola the night of the incident. Matching photos of Facebook users with the group photo of the suspects, he contacted the police.

At 10:55 p.m. it was reported on Twitter that lawyers for suspects in the photo contacted police to make arrangements.

According to the Philly Police blog, on September 11 at 10:45 p.m., two white males, aged 26 and 28, were on the 1600 block of Chancellor Street when they were approached by a group of unknown white males and females. As the group approached the complainants they started saying anti-gay slurs at the pair. According to NBC Philadelphia, the victims say someone in the group asked whether they were a couple. When they told them yes, the group allegedly began to attack them, punching and kicking them in the face, head and chest.

During the assault one of the victims dropped his bag containing his cell phone, wallet and credit cards. When police approached one of the suspects picked the bag up from the ground. The group then fled and were last seen north on 16th Street towards Walnut Street.

The crime is being investigated by Philadelphia police as a hate crime.

From our media partner EDGE