New Jersey prosecutors announced Thursday the indictments of 48 people in connection to an elaborate cockfighting ring in Atlantic County.
Galloway Township detectives busted up the sadistic operation after uncovering online invitations to a March 2024 event, scheduled to take place at a private residence with an arena built specifically to host rooster fights, authorities said.
“Dozens of roosters were seized, many of them with varying degrees of injury and mutilation,” according to prosecutors. “Additionally, four dogs were seized from the residence and a shed on the property, where three of the canines were kept in deplorable conditions.”
Officials said one of the dogs required life-saving surgery.
Prosecutors named Jose Madera, 33, as the organizer of the event. Mandera wasn’t included in Wednesday’s indictment because he and another suspect had “already resolved their criminal matter via accusations in lieu of indictment.”
Madera reportedly copped to operating the cockfighting ring and faced just under a year in jail followed by probation and community service, according to the Courier-Express.
Charges against the dozens of others who were indicted include animal cruelty, mutilation of animals, attending an event involving animal fighting and/or gambling on those fights, resisting arrest by flight and possession of controlled substances.
The defendants, all from New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania, range in age from 24 to 70.