Alabama Family That Built Cockfighting ‘Stadium’ Imprisoned
Seven members of an Alabama fellowship have got been handed federal prison sentences for operating ace of the “largest cockfighting enterprises” inwards the US, according to the Department of Justice.
Three generations of the Easterling sept of Verbena, Ala., elderly betwixt 25 and 77, helped pass a cockfighting arena. The venue included “stadium seating” for 150 people, and even out had a merchandise stand, prosecutors said.
The phratry also managed II genteelness farms that produced thousands of fighting birds for usage inwards the illegal blood sport.
The final member to follow sentenced was St. George “Billy” Easterling, 56, who on Tues received 22 months in prison followed past ane yr of supervised vent for violating the Animal Welfare Act’s (AWA) forbiddance against animate being fighting.
George’s brother, Brent Easterling, 38, was described past prosecutors as “one of the most widely-known fighting-bird breeders in the country.” He could complaint upwardly to $1,500 for his roosters because of their “select fighting pedigrees,” per court of justice documents. He was handed a 24-month doom on Nov 30.
Gaffs and Slashers
Family paterfamilias William “Jim” Easterling, 77, was the owner of the cockfighting arena. He was sentenced to II years of home custody and a fine of $8,000 for violating the Animal Welfare Act and operating an illegal gaming business. The judicature set that a prison doom would be detrimental to his declining health.
Cockfighting bouts typically affect spectators placing bets on birds that and so defend to the death, usually with hooked razors known as “gaffs” or “slashers” attached to their talons. These avian assault weapons were among the items on sales agreement at the arena’s merchandise stand.
Prosecutors concluded that the fights were conducted purely for the purposes of “sport, wagering, and entertainment.” And for the Easterlings profit. Jim Easterling charged participants from across the US expensive accounting entry fees, such as $1,500 to fight VII birds at his shaft pit.
The patriarch has since dismantled the arena, which was ace of the conditions of his plea deal.
Illegal Since 2002
Cockfighting has been illegal inwards 50 states since a 2002 amendment to AWA made it a infringement to ship, exhibit, or sponsor birds for fighting.
Five years later, President George III W. George Walker Bush signed into practice of law the Animal Fighting Prohibition Reinforcement Act (AFPRA), which made the criminal offence a felony.
AFPRA also made it an offence to “knowingly sell, buy, transport, or present inwards interstate highway or strange mercantilism a knife, a gaff, or any other sharp-worded pawn attached, or intentional or intended to be attached, to the leg of a bird for utilise in an beast fighting venture.”
It is also illegal inwards most states to live a looker at a cockfight.