Authorities detained over 70 cockfighters during a three-part raid across the New York metropolitan area that spanned from Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Known as "Operation Angry Birds," the initiative reportedly began when an informant alerted authorities last spring. The New York Times reports that more than 70 plain-clothes officers lingered around Jamaica Avenue in Queens on Saturday night, observing as people paid a $40 entry fee at a barbershop where a cockfighting ring was being held in the basement. That's when police struck, making nine arrests.
The second raid occurred at a Brooklyn pet store, which authorities suspect was supplying the birds. Over 50 birds were found in the basement, and authorities arrested the store owner. Furthermore, on Sunday, over 3,000 roosters were discovered at a Plattekill farm.
The Times reports that the ASPCA has established a temporary shelter for the birds, and Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is calling this the largest cockfighting raid ever.
[via The New York Times, Gawker and New York Daily News]
