When police officers burst into a West Baltimore Street rowhouse on a hot August afternoon, their target was a suspected drug dealer, and the raid yielded a stash of cocaine, heroin gel caps and marijuana. But they found much more: a loaded revolver as well as two pit bull terriers and the weights, chains, homemade harness and other equipment that are telltale signs of dogfighting.
That volatile mix - drugs, guns and dogfighting - has fueled a deadly subculture that is tearing at some city neighborhoods, police, animal enforcement and health officials say.
Pit bulls, or "pits" as they are commonly called, are prized by drug dealers and other criminals for their loyalty, muscular beauty and aggressive nature, a characteristic that can be manipulated to sadistic extremes. Some pit bulls are trained to guard drug houses and outdoor heroin caches; others to participate in organized fights.
"Dogfighting has been woven into the fabric of Baltimore's drug culture," said Frederick H. Bealefeld III, the city's acting police commissioner. "It's a part of that scene."
In April, dogfighting exploded into the headlines after Virginia police raided a house and property owned by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. They obtained a search warrant after the arrest of Vick's cousin on a drug charge and found 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls - some of them badly scarred. Last month, a federal grand jury indicted Vick and several associates.
In a plea agreement filed Friday, Vick admitted that he had bankrolled an interstate dogfighting operation and had participated in the killing of pit bulls; he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He was also suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Friday.
In Baltimore, dogfighting has been popular for decades, but city officials say they've seen a spike recently. They're also concerned about random attacks, such as the June pit bull mauling that left Ruby Pulley of East Baltimore hospitalized with bites and gashes on her head, neck, arms and legs.
Concern for public safety as well as the city's escalating homicide rate - fueled by drug dealing and gang violence and on pace to top 300 this year - has forced officials to take a closer look at dogfighting. Last month, Bealefeld and City Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein announced the creation of a dogfighting task force that will investigate allegations of animal cruelty and, they hope, lead to arrests.
