The Case Against Vick

> United States of America v. PURNELL A. PEACE, also known as "P-Funk" and "Funk," QUANIS L. PHILLIPS, also known as "Q," TONY TAYLOR, also known as "T," and MICHAEL VICK, also known as "Ookie," Defendants.

Peace, 35, Phillips, 28, and Taylor, 34, are acquaintances of Vick with ties to the area around the quarterback's hometown of Newport News, Va. Phillips played with Vick at Ferguson High and later worked for Vick's marketing company, MV7. Taylor's name was on the licenses for the Vick property on Moonlight Road in Surry County, Va., that is at the center of the investigation. Ookie is Vick's mother's nickname for him.

> In or about May 2001, TAYLOR identified the property at 1915 Moonlight Road, Smithfield, Virginia, as being a suitable location for housing and training pit bulls for fighting. . . . On or about June�29, 2001, VICK paid approximately $34,000 for the purchase of [that] property. . . .

Vick, the first player taken in the 2001 NFL draft, bought the 15-acre property 51 days after signing a six-year, $62�million contract with the Falcons.

> In or about early 2002, VICK, accompanied by PEACE, purchased approximately 4 pit bulls from Cooperating Witness Number�1 (C.W. #1) in Virginia.

Four cooperating witnesses are mentioned in the indictment, none of whom are identified. "I was surprised by the number of confidential witnesses," says William Frick, an attorney in South Carolina who in 2004 successfully prosecuted David Ray Tant, at the time considered the No. 2 dogfighter in the United States. "In drug cases, people talk all the time. But in dogfighting cases people don't talk unless you've got them over a barrel. You can have the dogs and all the equipment, but a guy can say he is just a breeder. Getting that witness is key."

>In or about early 2002, PEACE, PHILLIPS, TAYLOR, and VICK established a dog fighting business enterprise known as " Bad Newz Kennels." At one point, the defendants obtained shirts and headbands representing and promoting their affiliation with " Bad Newz Kennels."

Bad Newz is the street nickname for Vick's hometown. In the dogfighting subculture a brand name and a reputation make for better business.

> In or about the spring of 2002, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and TAYLOR traveled from Virginia to North Carolina with a male pit bull named "Seal" to participate in a dog fight against a male pit bull named "Maniac." . . . [ Bad Newz Kennels] lost the purse when "Maniac" prevailed over "Seal."

The indictment doesn't give blow-by-blow details of any fights, but it's reasonable to assume that Bad Newz and its opponents followed the so-called Cajun Rules, widely considered dogfighting's bylaws. Three of the 19 Cajun Rules prevent an owner from putting a substance on his dog that could impair an opponent. For example, Rule 15: "No sponging shall be allowed, and no towels or anything else taken into the pit by the handlers except a bottle of drink for his dog and a fan to cool him with. The handlers must taste their [dog's] drink before the referee to show that it contains no poison."