Orange County Man Charged With Breeding Dogs To Fight

CRAWFORD, NY — An Orange County man has been charged with 44 counts of violating the state Agricultural and Markets Law that deal with animal fighting. Nineteen of the charges are felonies; the rest, misdemeanors. Dominick Barizone, 48, of Union School Road in Crawford, was arraigned in Queens Thursday and was released on $25,000 bail, the Times Herald-Record said.

Barizone was also charged with fifth-degree conspiracy, a misdemeanor.

Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, according to the criminal complaint described in a press release, a detective with the New York City Police Department’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Squad contacted Barizone after viewing his website.

The home page featured the front cover of Sporting Dog Journal, a dog-fighting magazine, and included titles for various animals available for breeding.

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Twelve dogs were listed on the site labeled with dog-fighting acronyms, such was POR, which stands for “producer of record” or a canine that produces a dog-fight winner.

Brown said Barizone’s website had various images of dogs wearing heavy chains to make their necks strong and descriptions of bloodlines that produce canines with “tremendous mouth” meaning the animal has bite strength and a strong jaw, “game” as in aggression, “extreme ability” and “long-winded,” which are code words for stamina during fights.

The site also includes a picture of a known dog-fighter, authorities said.

Brown said the detective exchanged emails about purchasing a puppy from Barizone from a bloodline of known dog-fight winners.

The puppy was priced at $2,000, and $1,500 was allegedly sent by the detective to Barizone in the form of two money orders.

Barizone allegedly asked that the payee line be left blank and for the buyer not to write “payment for dog” on the memo line.

A second undercover officer met with Barizone June 16 at a mall in Newburgh, Brown said, with the remaining $500 in cash to complete the transaction.

At that time, Barizone allegedly produced two puppies to choose from and said he’d been involved with dogs since 1991 — long before Michael Vick, the former NFL quarterback convicted on charges related to dog fighting.

Barizone also allegedly told the detective that his breeding produces winners and he has sold dogs for between $2,000 and $20,000.

A court-authorized search warrant was executed June 21 at Barizone’s property in Middletown, where police seized 19 pit bulls, along with breeding charts, five break sticks that are used to insert behind a dog’s molars to break a dog’s grip on another animal or object, multiple Sporting Dog Journals and a guidebook on breeding and raising pit bull terriers.

The ASPCA assisted in the seizure of the dogs.

If convicted, Barizone faces up to four years in prison. He is next expected in court August 23.

Brown said that some people think that dog fighting is a spectator sport, but, with the animals forced to partake in blood battles, it is animal cruelty in its most brutalizing form.

“In this case, the defendant is accused of operating a breeding kennel geared at producing dog-fighting contenders,” he said. “No animal should be treated in such a vile fashion and the defendant will be held accountable for his alleged actions. Fortunately, as a result of this investigation, 19 animals have been rescued.”

Photo caption: Handlers prepare their dog before a dog-fighting match. Photo credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images.