Raid shuts Philadelphia cockfight ring
As police and animal-welfare officers busted a sophisticated cockfighting ring in a two-story rowhouse yesterday afternoon, residents in the North Philadelphia neighborhood shrugged off the seriousness of the crime.
As police and animal-welfare officers busted a sophisticated cockfighting ring in a two-story rowhouse yesterday afternoon, residents in the North Philadelphia neighborhood shrugged off the seriousness of the crime.
Enforcement officers from the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed 23 roosters in boxes from the home on 7th Street near Cambria, in North Philly's Fairhill section - the result of a 6-month investigation, said George Bengal, PSPCA director of law enforcement.
"It was a very expensive setup," Bengal said, adding that it was "one of the most elaborate" operations he has seen.
The cockfights were held once a week, and people would travel from Delaware County and as far as New Jersey for a chance to participate in a sport dubbed by some Puerto Rican neighbors as a part of their culture.
One of the two suspected cockfighting kingpins was arrested inside the home yesterday but Bengal said that others may be involved.
Bengal said that the man, whom he would not identify, worked as a laborer and was on parole for operating a cockfighting ring at the same location last year.
Police are still looking for the second suspect.
Patrons were required to stop by a small sliding window just beyond the front door of the home, where they paid $20 to $25 before going to the basement, which held nearly 100 spectators.
In the basement, SPCA officials found a 15-square-foot steel fighting box with steel doors, windows covered with quarter-inch-thick bulletproof glass, wooden coops, gaff swords, injection tools and lots of blood splattered on the basement walls.
Despite their fight-or-die lifestyle, all the roosters were healthy but their breasts were shaved and their combs and wattles were cut off, Bengal said.
The birds are being held for evidence.
"These birds were treated like athletes," Bengal said, adding that the birds were given steroids and vitamins. Prized birds can be valued at thousands of dollars.
"I'm sure most of the neighbors knew what was going on," Bengal said. "It's in their blood. It's lucrative."
Spanish music blared from the speakers of a home across the street from where the cockfights were held, and a Puerto Rican flag was perched atop a stop sign.
"It's part of our heritage," said a 44-year-old man who withheld his name. "It's hard to break those customs despite the law here."
Another neighbor, Milton, 60, was raised in the neighborhood but was born in Puerto Rico, where cockfighting is legal.
"We had cockfights in Puerto Rico," said Milton, who chose to withhold his last name. "It's a sport people did on the weekends."
