7 Charged In Illegal Alabama Cockfighting, Gambling Operation

VERBENA, AL — Seven Alabama residents are facing animal cruelty and conspiracy charges in connection with a large-scale cockfighting and fighting bird breeding operation, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.

According to federal prosecutors, the defendants over the last three years have maintained a cockfighting arena or “pit” with stadium seating for approximately 150 people and several rings to host cockfights.

Several of the defendants are also accused of running breeding operations to produce and sell birds to fight.

Cockfighting is considered a blood sport in which two roosters — or "gamecocks" — are placed in a pit and forced to fight until one of them dies. Often, a blade is strapped to each rooster's leg, which inflicts additional trauma on the birds.

Those charged, according to the DOJ release, are:

• William Colon “Big Jim” Easterling, 75
• Brent Colon Easterling, 37
• Kassi Brook Easterling, 38
• William Tyler Easterling, 29
• George William “Billy” Easterling, 55
• Thomas Glyn “Junior” Williams, 33
• Amber Nicole Easterling, 23

The seven defendants face 23 total charges that include violating the Animal Welfare Act and conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business. If convicted of conspiracy, Animal Welfare Act violations, or operating an illegal gambling business, the defendants each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The Easterlings also operated three adjacent fighting bird breeding operations, according to federal prosecutors. One operation was owned and operated by Big Jim Easterling; another called L&L Gamefarm was owned and operated by Brent and Kassi Easterling, and one called Swift Creek Gamefarm was owned and operated by Billy and Tyler Easterling.

All defendants are from Verbena.

Animal rights groups including Animal Wellness Action and the Animal Wellness Foundation lauded the charges, which come just two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari from political leaders in Puerto Rico seeking relief from a federal law that bans cockfighting in the United States and its territories.

The federal law against animal fighting has been consistently upheld by the U.S. courts, according to Animal Wellness Action.

"The arrests today by federal authorities send an unmistakable signal to every major cockfighting operator that there is no more business as usual when it comes to involvement in the barbaric practice of cockfighting," Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, said in a statement sent to Patch. "The Easterlings have been known to us for a long time as cockfighting traffickers, but also are part of a far larger network of animal fighters in Alabama and throughout the United States that have made America the breeding ground for the global cockfighting industry."

At the federal level, those accused of cockfighting face penalties of up to 5 years in prison for each violation and fines of up to $250,000.

While cockfighting has been outlawed in Alabama since as early as 1896, some animal rights activists still refer to the state as "the cockfighting capital of the Southeast."

According to Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, the maximum penalty imposed by the state of Alabama is a $50 fine and no jail time.

"If law enforcement is going to shut down illegal cockfighting in my home state of Alabama, that work can only be done by the Department of Justice because cockfighting is effectively decriminalized in the Yellowhammer State," Irby, a Mobile native, said in a statement to Patch. "While dogfighting is a felony in Alabama, cockfighting warrants less in the way of penalties than a parking ticket, and the law hasn’t been updated since the 1800s."