Guilty pleas and jail terms in largest cockfighting bust in New York history
New York state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced this month the felony convictions of two Ulster County men charged as part of the three-county takedown, “Operation Angry Birds,” which resulted in the dismantling of the largest known cockfighting ring in New York history, reaching from Ulster County to Brooklyn and Queens, and one of the biggest in the country.
Farm owner Moises Cruz, 71, and farm manager Manuel Cruz, 60, pleaded guilty in December to the top count felony of violating New York Agriculture and Markets Law, Prohibition of Animal Fighting.
Hours before the upstate arrests, dozens of people were initially detained after a raid at a Queens cockfighting event in February — a part of the Angry Birds operation. Four additional defendants were Brooklyn residents including Elisandy Gonzalez, 45; Noel Castillo, 67; Francisco Suriel, 45; and Jeremias Nieves, 75.