Six people in Rhode Island were arrested by federal agents as part of the latest cockfighting roundup across the United States involving suspected criminal rings that host cockfight events. Agents also arrested several people in Massachusetts.
Since January, forty-five people have been charged in grand jury indictments for running illegal cockfighting rings in California, Rhode Island, and Washington State. According to the Department of Justice records, most of the investigations target violations of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Act.
“It is a federal crime to exhibit or sponsor an animal in, be a spectator at, or bring a minor under the age of sixteen to an animal fight,” according to the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. They added, “It is also a federal crime to possess, purchase, sell, receive, transport, deliver, or train an animal for purposes of participation in an animal fight.”
The DOJ said that a Rhode Island man is accused of running and sponsoring a series of derbies in 2022 out of his Providence home along with five other men. Federal prosecutors reported that two men in the group harbored roosters strictly for combat since 2021 and others procured sharp blades for the fighting birds to wear.
