Inside The Dog Fighting Underworld

The indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has turned the spotlight on the seamy, disturbing, yet fast-growing underworld of dog fighting.

Once hidden in the rural south, this blood sport with pit bulls and gambling now can be found in every state, attracting urban professionals, gang-bangers, even teenagers — 40,000 fans by some estimates, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports.

"They're everybody," said Dave Havard of the Los Angeles SPCA. "They're not locked into a certain type of culture of certain type of neighborhood. A lot of people get involved because of the money — a lot are in it for the entertainment."

Though illegal in every state and a felony in 48, there's a surge in dog fighting — organized professional or amateur backyard bouts with bets of a few dollars to thousands.

A champion dog can cost as much as $130,000 but earn as much as $100,000 in winnings. The winner lives to fight another day, the loser often dies in the ring.

"They've got incredible stamina; they've got incredible power; they've got incredible speed," said Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society. "The fights can last anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours, and the dogs typically die from blood loss or shock."

Dog trainers insist the pit bulls aren't nasty by nature, but the owners are. They bully and train the dogs to be hyper-aggressive — eager to fight any place, any time, anyone.

"There's dog fighting activities occurring somewhere every moment in this country," Pacelle said.

A sign if the times: Congress recently made it a federal crime to transport fighting dogs across state lines, which might end up pushing this vicious crime further underground.

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As with most crimes in the United States, it seems that the punishment is not severe enough to deter anyone. In this segment, I noted the following: how much money a person can make by breeding and fighting a pit bull (ideal for fighting because "They%u2019ve got incredible stamina; they%u2019ve got incredible power; they%u2019ve got incredible speed,%u201D sounds like an endorsement), the fact that a lot of people from all walks of life participate, even take their kids to watch the matches (where is CPS when you need them) AND (the finale) Congress was so deeply offended by the very concept of putting animals in a cage to tear each other apart that they made it illegal for a person in Texas to take their trained pit bull to Virginia to do the same. Oh yea, it is a felony in 48 of the 50 states, but what do you care, you can make $100,000. It is a shame you were unable to tell the American people that betting on dog fights carries a minimum of 5 years in Federal prison or that training breeding or selling any animal for the purpose of fighting carries a minimum of 10 years in Federal prison per count AND once accused, let me repeat ONCE ACCUSED the government seizes everything you own and everything you bought. It wouldn't matter if you had a job and earned a salary at AT&T or balled for the NFL, the government would get it. That would deter most people.