Significant Cases
On August 27, 2007 professional American football player Michael Vick pleaded guilty to felony charges of running a dogfighting ring. Vick joined three others who had pleaded guilty earlier to federal offense charges for running a competitive dogfighting ring called "Bad Newz Kennels" over a period of 6 years. The case drew widespread publicity in the United States owing to Vick's fame, his image as a role model, and certain gruesome details of the operation, including how underperforming dogs were executed via means such as electrocution and hanging. The related unlawful gambling he funded was especially objectionable to his professional football league's Player Code of Conduct. The four co-defendants face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 plus restitution. It is also likely that Vick will forfeit ownership of the $700,000 15 acre estate in Surry County, Virginia which was developed for the enterprise. A Virginia state grand jury met to consider additional state charges on Vick on September 25, 2007.
In the wake of the Michael Vick case the Animal Legal Defense Fund drafted a recommended amendment to state laws that would enable prosecutors to charge dogfighters under the respective state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (commonly referred to as "RICO") statute. Applied to animal fighting, RICO,which was originally designed to be a weapon against a wide variety of organized criminal efforts, including drug dealing and gambling,would give prosecutors increased muscle in seeking justice for the animals abused and—as in the highly-publicized Michael Vick dogfighting case—executed by their owners. Thirty-two states currently have RICO statutes to which this amendment could be applied. The amendment was enacted in Virginia in July 2008, making it the third state, along with Oregon and Utah, whose law lists dogfighting as a RICO predicate offense.
On July 12, 2012 Detroit rapper Young Calicoe's house was raided by police on suspicion of dog fighting and other crimes against animals including Chickens. Earlier that month he recorded a home video boasting about how his animals are "Champion Fighters" and posted the video on YouTube for his fans to see. Many of which were outraged and the video was e-mailed to the Detroit Police Department. As of today the Young Calicoe animal abuse video is available for viewing on LiveLeak. Since news of this broke out many of his social networking sites have been under attack by angered fans, and many rival rappers wrote diss tracks to show their rage. Young Calicoe is still under investigation.
Read more about this topic: Dog Fighting
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