Thread: Cockfighting in Waterbury is out of control

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connec ... kfighting/

WATERBURY, Conn. - From a garage near an abandoned factory in the south end of town, the sound was unmistakable: roosters - lots of them - squawking in the night.

It's an odd noise to hear in the middle of this city, the former brass capital of the world. But police in Waterbury, about 30 miles southwest of Hartford, knew exactly what they were dealing with recently when they gathered outside the squawking garage.

It was another cockfight.

"It's pretty much the same thing every time," said John Connelly, the local prosecutor. "There's liquor sold, bets taken. The police confiscate the money. The money gets forfeited to the state - that's pretty automatic. And birds end up being euthanized. You talk to the cops who go in there. It's a bloody mess. There are dead birds. Lots of blood."

Cockfight raids are relatively rare, especially in New England. According to unofficial figures compiled by the Humane Society of the United States, there were about 100 busts for cockfighting nationwide last year, none in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Maine.

But since 2005, police near Hartford have made at least five major cockfighting busts, three of them in Waterbury. Counting the Feb. 28 raid at the garage, Waterbury police have now arrested about 80 people in connection with cockfighting in the past four years, seizing more than 100 roosters and $88,000.

All of which has raised a simple question among some folks there: What's up with the roosters in Waterbury?

Lieutenant Christopher Corbett, supervisor of the Waterbury police detective bureau, said he's not sure. Maybe, he said, the recent busts are the result of increased vigilance. But given the lucky breaks police have needed to make the busts - in one case, officers on patrol simply saw men carrying roosters into a vacant building - Corbett admits that other factors might be at play.

Located at the intersection of Interstate 84 and state Route 8, Waterbury finds itself easily accessible to people from Boston, New York, Worcester, and Springfield. And some cockfighting fans have certainly been making the trip. The people arrested at Waterbury cockfights hailed from 26 communities in four states, including Massachusetts.

"Almost all of them are from out of town, which is a bigger concern for me because how do they find out about it?" asked J. Paul Vance Jr., president of Waterbury's Board of Aldermen. "How is it being advertised? And how do we shut these people down?"

Perhaps more important than Waterbury's geography are its demographics. The city's population, about 108,000, has remained stagnant for nearly 50 years as the brass industry and other manufacturers have shut down. Yet since 1970, Waterbury's Hispanic population has grown nearly eightfold, according to US Census data, from around 3,900 to nearly 30,000.


Hispanics now account for more than one-fourth of the city's population. The vast majority of them hail from Puerto Rico, where cockfighting is legal. That more than anything might explain what's happening, said Alderman Albert Negron, whose father moved from Puerto Rico to Connecticut in the 1960s. Most of the people arrested in the raids have been Hispanic.
Discuss
COMMENTS (27)

"We have Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and in all their countries of origin, that's a national pastime," Negron said.

Cockfighting, which is illegal in all 50 states, is a bloody spectacle in which roosters are fitted with steel or hard-plastic spurs, hyped up on steroids, and dropped into makeshift rings to fight, usually to the death, while crowds whoop, holler, drink beer, and bet.

In Connecticut, as in most states, participating in or even watching cockfighting is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Usually when a community cracks down, the practice goes back underground or moves to the next town, said John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States. But that hasn't happened in Waterbury.

The first incident in recent years unfolded in May 2005 in a vacant building a few blocks from the police station. Police, responding to a noise complaint, walked in to find roosters and throngs of people gathered around a makeshift ring.

Chaos ensued. Many people fled. And before it was over, roosters were walking - and fighting - in the streets. Police arrested 36 people in all, including five Massachusetts men.

In 2006, Waterbury police made a second, smaller bust in a vacant office downtown. Investigators in nearby Bloomfield and Manchester made cockfighting arrests in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

And then about two weeks ago, Waterbury police raided the garage, where they say there was a $10 entrance fee, a referee with a timer overseeing the fights, and food and beer on hand. The take this time: 23 arrests, 51 roosters, and $16,000.

"They could hear roosters crowing," Corbett said. "They could hear people cheering. And when they went inside, there were these 23 men in there with - for lack of a better term - a miniature boxing ring."

Goodwin, who tracks cockfighting arrests nationally, was excited to see Waterbury's name pop up again. As he explains it, "Every time one of these gets raided it helps out. My hat's off to law enforcement in Waterbury."

Many locals found little to be excited about. Vance said it might be time for the city to consider adding a local penalty, if possible, over and above the state law. Connelly will be pushing for jail time for the people recently arrested, he said, despite the fact that hardly anyone has received such sentences in the past.

It's time to send a message, Connelly said.

Meantime, at the city pound, the roosters seized at the recent fight are awaiting a fate of their own. Stacked in cages and plastic kennels amid one cat and 30 barking dogs, they crow and peck at their temporary handlers.

"They're very vicious," said pound employee George Crownshaw. "As soon as I open the door, it's a fight."

Not for long. Soon, police say, the surviving 47 birds will have to be euthanized, because of their potential to spread disease and their inability to live in peace with other animals.

It's a sad ending to a sad story in Waterbury, but not necessarily for everyone in the city. José Duran, a 34-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, said he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. He likes cockfights, he said, and doesn't mind watching them every now and again.

"I don't feel bad about it," he said. "It's just birds, man. That's all it is: birds."

Keith O'Brien can be reached at kobrien@globe.com.

Classy folks just bringing in their elegant traditions!!

Illegal immigration has turned our cities, towns and communities into third world gang, drug and poverty infested rat holes and sewers. Uncle Sugar takes care of all their needs (through those b.s. stimuli and bailouts) at taxpayer expense which is why they can afford to do nothing but engage in cockfighting contests. Illegal aliens there as throughout this now corrupt, impoverished and socialist third world banana republic are receiving health care, welfare, food stamps, education, social security, SSI, unemployment insurance and other benefits using stolen identities with many using multiple identities to receive multiple benefits while unemployed and suffering senior citizens, veterans, indigent and other Americans are told to go to hell and stick it up their a$$es on the way down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps more important than Waterbury's geography are its demographics. The city's population, about 108,000, has remained stagnant for nearly 50 years as the brass industry and other manufacturers have shut down. Yet since 1970, Waterbury's Hispanic population has grown nearly eightfold, according to US Census data, from around 3,900 to nearly 30,000.


Hispanics now account for more than one-fourth of the city's population. The vast majority of them hail from Puerto Rico, where cockfighting is legal. That more than anything might explain what's happening, said Alderman Albert Negron, whose father moved from Puerto Rico to Connecticut in the 1960s. Most of the people arrested in the raids have been Hispanic.

Well, there's the hint.....it's a cultural thing apparently being re-born by a specific ethnic group. He's right.....never thought cock fighting would be a big time amusement for the folks there.

José Duran, a 34-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, said he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. He likes cockfights, he said, and doesn't mind watching them every now and again.

"I don't feel bad about it," he said. "It's just birds, man. That's all it is: birds."

Well, you're not in the Dominican Republic anymore and it is a big deal here. We don't torture animals for sport here. It's illegal.

José Duran, a 34-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, said he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. He likes cockfights, he said, and doesn't mind watching them every now and again.

"I don't feel bad about it," he said. "It's just birds, man. That's all it is: birds."



Spoken by a true third world feeble minded, uneducated illiterate bird brain.......He probably was at the top of his class (one of the better educated thugs illegally crossing the joke of a border as most have third and fourth grade educations). A 19th century uncivilized mindset invading what was a 21st century civilized society bringing murder, rape, child molestation, gang rule, identity theft, and a plethora of other crimes. No wonder we are a third world lawless, uncivilized illiterate sewer.......

I am from a mixed marriage and my father was White with a colonial New England background and was prep school and Ivy League educated. My mother is Black, White and East Indian with a Masters degree. I was born in the Virgin Islands. I have or had relatives on both sides who are or were into cockfighting. One of my father's relatives who taught at a prestigious New England prep school in Massachusetts raised game cocks in New Hampshire and more rarely actually used them for fighting. My mothers family has in some relatives who still go to fights. My father was a biologist and when I asked him about it he said that what he did not like about it was "artificial spurs and fighting in conditions which led to serious injury and death. Cocks fight under natural conditions but the loser does not usually get killed by the fight." The Virgin Islands passed laws against cockfighting but when proposed they got stalled due to popular support for the activity. I wrote an editorial which got circulated in the legislature which resulted in my father's concern getting legislated into law.

It is possible to find underground sites with live cockfighting online.

It's been a sport I know for many cultures. Anyone remember "Roots" with chicken Joe? I know others have done it. But just coz they used to, doesn't make it right. Can't remember what was trying to be done exactly.....it was a few years back and Oklahoma was trying to have them wear booties or something, so it could still be a sport without all the killing or something.

Just me, can't see what's enjoyable about watching the suffering and killing of anything. Dogs, roosters, bulls......doesn't matter. Maybe somewhere in the mix there's an element of "sport"....just don't get the blood and death necessity.

I wrote an editorial which got circulated in the legislature which resulted in my father's concern getting legislated into law.

That's great......thanks.