Vast dogfighting ring in Baltimore, Baltimore County broken up

The men brought them home as puppies, wrapped heavy chains and harnesses around the dogs' necks and made them pull weights to build up muscles. They beat the dogs with rusty pipes, cut their ears back and made them lunge at other dogs until only one stood.



Owners shot, electrocuted, hanged or drowned the animals if they didn't win.
These are allegations Baltimore prosecutors laid out Monday at a news conference announcing the indictments of 22 men investigators say took part in a vast dogfighting ring that operated in basements and backyards across the Baltimore area.
"It's a cruel world," Baltimore police Lt. Col. Sean Miller said. "The connectivity to violent crime and violence is apparent."

Armed with search warrants, Baltimore police on Wednesday raided 15 city rowhouses and other properties, two Baltimore County locations and a compound in West Virginia. Over the course of the yearlong investigation, Baltimore police say, officers seized 225 dogs, 50 puppies and 20 guns. They charged 14 men with dogfighting conspiracy, aggravated cruelty related to dogfighting, animal abuse and neglect.
Items police seized included treadmills specially made for dogs, chains, harnesses, steroids, bloodstained dogfighting rings, plastic bite sticks to pry apart dogs' jaws, scales and "rape stands."
The stands, prosecutors wrote in the indictment, force unwilling female dogs' hind legs apart so they can be mounted by males and bred.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says it's impossible to determine the number of people involved in dogfighting across the nation but estimate it's in the tens of thousands.


"While organized dog fighting activity seemed to decline in the 1990s, many law enforcement and animal control officials feel that it has rebounded in recent years," the ASPCA says on its website. "Street fighting has reportedly continued to grow as a significant component of urban crime."
Thiru Vignarajah, Major Crimes Unit chief for the Baltimore state's attorney's office, called the Baltimore-area operation an "unforgiving underworld" where dogs were trained to fight for entertainment and financial gain. Dogfight purses sometimes surpassed $100,000, he said.
Nearly all the men indicted have criminal histories, prosecutors said. Eight have been convicted of violent crimes and one of the suspects has a previous murder conviction, they said.
"Because there is a link between animal abuse and human violence, it is important that these crimes be taken seriously, which is exactly what the [police] did," said Katie Flory, chair of the mayor's Anti-Animal Abuse Commission.
Attempts to reach relatives of several defendants were unsuccessful. Most did not have lawyers listed in online court records.

Many of the dogs listed in the 15-page indictment were named Jax, Tara, Chibs, Opie, Gemma and Lyla — names of characters from the television show "Sons of Anarchy" series about an outlaw motorcycle gang.