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Undercover Texas Cops Sting Dog-Fighting Ring
By Harry Kimball
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Posted Aug 12, 09 6:02 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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A pair of Houston cops recently put away nearly 100 dog fighters, but to do so they had to become “dogmen” themselves. Texas Monthly recounts the undercover sting and provides a look at the brutal sport. The cops were reluctant at first—“we just figured it was piddly shit, something for the local animal-control officers”—until they learned of handlers shooting up their dogs with cocaine and steroids, and killing dogs who couldn't themselves kill in the ring. "They make Michael Vick look like a pussy," said one informant of the top dogmen.
The men arrested in the sting were well surprised by the revelation. “It never occurred to me, not once, that those boys were cops,” one says. “I taught them how to fight the right way—with dignity and honor, not letting their dogs get chewed up. And I know, deep down, they started loving it as much as I did. I could tell they had the blood for it. But now they get to go free and get all kinds of publicity while I go off to prison.”