What's happening
This bill adds animal fighting as a criminal act qualifying for enterprise corruption charges under New York penal law.
Why it matters
Expands prosecutorial tools against organized crime. By including animal fighting as a qualifying offense for enterprise corruption, prosecutors can pursue more serious racketeering-style charges against individuals and groups involved in these activities, potentially leading to longer sentences and broader asset seizures.
Targets the networks behind animal fighting. Animal fighting rings often involve multiple layers of organization, including gambling, trafficking, and violence. This amendment allows law enforcement to address not just individual offenders, but the entire network as a criminal enterprise.
Signals increased recognition of animal cruelty as serious crime. Elevating animal fighting to the level of other enterprise corruption offenses reflects a societal shift in viewing animal cruelty as a significant public harm, not just a minor or isolated offense.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Animal Fighting in Gangs
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to codes
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to codes
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 61–1
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.668
- Referred to codes
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Ban Animal Fighting Corruption
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Charles Lavine
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
609
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. BOYLE, TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to adding animal fighting as a criminal act when referring to enterprise corruption
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 460.10 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 442 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Any felony set forth elsewhere in the laws of this state and defined by the tax law relating to alcoholic beverage, cigarette, gasoline and similar motor fuel taxes; article seventy-one of the environmental conservation law relating to water pollution, hazardous waste or substances hazardous or acutely hazardous to public health or safety of the environment; article twenty-three-A of the general business law relating to prohibited acts concerning stocks, bonds and other securities, article twenty-two of the general business law concerning monopolies; subdivision two of section three hundred fifty-one of the agriculture and markets law.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04328-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to adding animal fighting as a criminal act when referring to enterprise corruption
Purpose
This legislation would define animal fighting as a criminal act when referring to enterprise corruption.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. This bill amends penal law section 460.10 subdivision 1 to include subdivision 2 of section 351 of the agriculture and markets law as a criminal act when referring to enterprise corruption.
Section 2. Effective date.
Justification
Animal fighting fuels some of the most violent enterprises which corrupt our neighborhoods. Apart from the well-established social science link between violence against animals and violence against people, the New York law enforcement community has seen first-hand that vigorous inves- tigation and prosecution of animal fighting exposes gang networks, narcotics rings, weapons trafficking activity, and other sophisticated and violent criminal enterprises.
Animal fighting is the pitting of two dogs against each other for amuse- ment or gain. It can also be the pitting of a dog against another type of animal (even a human). While money need not be exchanged to qualify the act as illegal, there is indeed a significant financial machine behind this disgusting "blood sport." According to some estimates, dog fighting is a billion-dollar underground economy - just in the United States. Some studies put the United States' share of this enterprise at a full third of the global dog fighting economy. Money is not only made by abhorrent wagers on the outcomes of fights, but also through the illicit breeding, marketing, trading, and sale of dogs. Professional fighters will market the bloodlines of their winners, make money off of forced breeding sessions (whether successful or not), and sell litters as fast as they can be produced. The underground industry is such that, besides the fighters, there are individuals who specialize as "promo- ters" of fights, as breeders, as trainers, and as sellers. Because the activity must go undetected, there is also a strong subversive demand for medications, specialized equipment, veterinary services, and "dark web" communication platforms (unregistered Internet sites, invisible to public view). Another awful truth of this already-atrocious enterprise is that fighters will sometimes steal animals from their surrounding community - small dogs or cats - to use for bait or training for their kennels.
This is not a distant problem. It is happening in virtually every corner of the state. As law enforcement has grown more attuned to its detection, fighting rings have been targeted and brought down, and, along with those rings, law enforcement has seized guns and heroin, uncovered domestic abuse and child abuse, and rescued countless dogs from a lifetime of torture.
However, the methodologies of detection are still lacking - for no justifiable purpose besides oversight. Despite being an inherently "social" activity (i.e. more than one defendant must be involved), animal fighting is currently not an enterprise crime eligible-offense. This bill will allow animal fighting charges to be eligible for an enterprise corruption charge in applicable circumstance. By including animal fighting as an eligible offense, law enforcement and prosecutors will gain valuable tools in combating this heinous category of crime.
Legislative history
Passed Senate 2018.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Local fiscal implications
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.