HOUSE BILL 1197 – PENNSYLVANIA

 UPDATE: Sadly this never made it past the Senate Judiciary Committee after passing unanimously in the House. Such a shame-it would have could have done so much good. Dogs will continue to die in a pit or by the hands of monsters and illegal drugs and guns will continue to make their way to the streets. Organized crime hiding behind fighting poor dogs- while more and more young people die as a result of the illegal activities that we ALL know go on at a dog fight. We can’t get this passed to not only save a dog’s life but also to make an effort to do ALL that we can to save young human lives. I’ll never understand – but I do know I did my best.

Good afternoon everyone and thank you Representative Costa for inviting me here today to speak on this very important legislation.

Pennsylvania’s state law is based on the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Now more than 40 years old, RICO was initially aimed at mobsters. It later was used as a tool to prosecute corrupt public officials. And more recently, the law has been used to combat a more contemporary criminal outfit — street gangs.

There is a high correlation between street gangs and illegal drugs and firearms. There is a high correlation between street gangs and dogfighting.  Dogfighting is an underground world where crimes against animals are common but often difficult to solve and prosecute. Dogfighting is a telltale sign that there Is much more going on.

Dogfighting is an organized crime, a criminal enterprise.   Dogfighting is used to hide other illegal activities. I can speak to that from my very own experience.  I have been on dogfighting raids all over the country over the past 7 years.  The second largest dogfighting raid in our nation’s history – known as the “367” (367 dogs were seized that day) was in 4 southern states, 5 different properties were raided at the same time.  I was one of 12 people on the ground as the FBI, the ATF and local law enforcement raided the properties.  $500,000 in cash was on the table for a fight that was to happen that night.   Many times drugs are used in lieu of cash for winnings in a bet.  I have seen the drugs confiscated, I have seen the weapons confiscated, and I have seen the dogs, many in conditions that I will never be able to forget. .  I’m not speaking from hearsay, I was there, in Alabama on that hot August day.  One of the dogs who was in my section, Lucas, was to fight that night.  This $500,000- a HALF A MILLION DOLLARS was bet on Lucas who had ten times prior killed his opponents with barely a scar on his body.  Lucas was eventually euthanized as he was trained to do kill other dogs which made him unsafe to be anyone’s pet.

Recent states that have passed this same legislation include Illinois, Michigan, Virginia and our neighbor New Jersey.

Under Illinois’ new state-level RICO statute, dogfighting is among dozens of offenses — including drug trafficking, prostitution promotion, gunrunning, terrorism and others — that could be used as evidence in the prosecution of an organized criminal enterprise.

RICO cases are typically the result of long-term investigations. Using the RICO statute, prosecutors employ informants and wiretaps to target the leaders of a gang even if those individuals did not pull the trigger in a murder or personally sell drugs on a street.

And now in Illinois, because of the RICO statute, authorities can crack down on dogfighting rings and can conceivably disassemble the organizations behind them and save animals from this horrific blood sport.

According to Sgt. Mark George of the Chicago Police Department’s Animal Crimes Unit, in 2011, the unit initiated nearly 500 investigations resulting in 73 search warrants, 101 arrests, and the seizure of 190 animals, 17 guns, 700 grams of cannabis, 47 grams of heroin and several thousand dollars in cash.  Sgt. George has found that RICO is a great tool to deal with this element that plagues our communities and helps to combat gangs and drugs.

What additional tools would the addition of dogfighting to RICO in PA bring to law enforcement overseeing dogfighting investigations:

• More comprehensive investigatory powers;
• Extended statutes of limitations;
• Longer sentences (in terms of both actual incarceration and the length of post-prison supervision);
• Larger fines;
• Pre-conviction “seize and freeze” of a defendant’s assets; and
• Forfeiture of the assets used in, and gains generated from, the dogfighting activities.

These are key legal tools in combating organized dogfighting rings –
highly organized and guarded criminal enterprises that are extremely
difficult for law enforcement to penetrate.

A few years ago, I started a task force that included members of the FBI here in Pittsburgh.  It was formed specifically to work together to combat dogfighting in our region.  The FBI is aware of the activity that is hidden behind this brutal blood sport. The FBI FULLY supports this legislation and my group is continuing to work together with them to do whatever we can to support their efforts.

Stephen Wells of the American Legal Defense Fund states: “The vast majority of all dogfighting cases are discovered as a collateral matter to some other type of criminal investigation, be it a drug case, a gambling investigation or simply in response to a 911
dispatch to a domestic disturbance.  Adding dogfighting as a RICO trigger gives law
enforcement additional tools, and a strong incentive, to start directly
targeting organized dogfighting rings–not to mention that it sends a
very strong message to the dogfighting community that the stakes just
got substantially higher.”

In closing I would ask all of you here today to support Representative Dom Costa’s HB1197.  Not only would we be taking steps to eradicate the violent blood sport of dogfighting, this would crack down on other activities that are killing our young people at a rapid pace like illegal guns and heroine.  Let’s put Pennsylvania on the map with the handful of states who haven passed this legislation and show our citizens that we are doing all that we can to save lives, both human and animal.

Thank you all for listening, I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

Respecfully submitted by Mary Kennedy Withrow