Dog Number 118 had no front lips. Her nose was torn and lopsided. Her crooked, broken teeth stood out without protection, constantly exposed to the air. Scar tissue layered her snout. When approached, her handlers warn that she’s “a licker.”
Known to her caretakers as Fay, Number 118 was one of the more graphic surviving illustrations of dogfighting. Press reports describe other dogs as missing ears, legs, and eyes. One puppy was found with “maggots in its lips, nose, legs and tail.” All were rescued in a single series of raids, arresting twenty-six people and seizing more than 500 dogs across eight states. This event in July 2009 was hailed as the largest bust of a dogfighting ring in U.S. history.
“Ring” may be the operative word. Illegal dogfights are not the work of a single law-breaker and instead constitute a form of organized crime. Fights—particularly among avid hobbyists and professional dogfighters—are often highly organized events with spectators, guards, agreed-upon rules, referees, side gambling, prize purses, and sometimes even concession stands. Like any planned event, they require networking, preparation, and coordination between at least two, and typically three or more, parties such as kennels, dog “sponsors,” referees, the fight promoter, and spectators. In this way, dogfights often mark the synchronization of criminal efforts from various players, all linked together through their common purpose of the fighting ring.
In the quest for stronger methods to punish dogfighters, some have suggested turning to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law originally inspired to combat La Cosa Nostra (“the Mafia”). RICO creates criminal and civil penalties for using certain ill-gotten gains to run, control, or invest in a business or “enterprise.”
RICO’s potential application in dogfighting cases became a topic of media speculation in 2007 following the indictment of then-Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback Michael Vick. Language in the indictment and facts provided by a co-conspirator emulated language in RICO, touching off speculation of a future indictment against Mr. Vick under RICO. Because the defendants in United States v. Vick ultimately pled to lesser charges, this potential use of RICO remains untested in court.
Since its passage in 1970, RICO has been both revered and reviled because of its strong penalties and broad applicability. It has been called “brilliant . . . [but] totalitarian,” “like using a cannon to go hunting for squirrels,” and “the ‘nuclear weapon’ of enforcement mechanisms.” The law is intentionally flexible, mandating its provisions “be liberally construed” to eradicate organized crime in the United States. As a result, prosecutors have been able to use RICO charges to address a wide range of criminal activity beyond the Mafia, such as corrupt government agencies, health care fraud, securities fraud, and drug trafficking by police.
Compared to traditional prosecution methods, RICO provides longer sentences and strong asset seizure capabilities. RICO also provides a method of consolidating numerous offenses that may not otherwise be pursued by prosecutors, such as gambling and drug offenses, into a single charge.
This Note examines how the existing RICO structure might be applied to dogfighting rings, particularly in relation to recent large busts. Section I examines the history of dogfighting and how it evolved to its modern form. Section II describes modern dogfighting, particularly in relation to three subgroups of dogfighters (professionals, hobbyists, and street fighters), as well as harms associated with the crime. Section III discusses traditional and non-RICO prosecutions of dogfighting, as well as some common barriers. Section IV provides an introduction of the criminal RICO statute. This includes a discussion of its legislative purpose, followed by analysis of the most important RICO elements and self-imposed limits on RICO prosecutions observed by the Department of Justice. Finally, section V addresses if and how the typical dogfighting situations may fit RICO requirements.