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ANIMAL WATCH - Two decades after NFL Quarterback Michael Vick’s shocking BadNewz Kennel dog fighting case in 2007 exposed the brutality and unquenchable bloodthirst of the organized dog-fighting underground, former NFL running back LeShon Johnson, now 54, was indicted last week in a federal dogfighting case spanning the years since 2004.
A media release by the Department of Justice on March 25, 2025, “Oklahoma Man Charged with Operating Large-Scale Dog Fighting and Trafficking Venture,”described LaShon Johnson’s operation as, “190 Dogs Seized, Most from a Single Person in a Dog Fighting Case.”
It stated, “The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma unsealed a grand jury indictment recently charging an Oklahoma man with violation of the dog fighting prohibitions of the federal Animal Welfare Act.”
Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated, “Animal abuse is cruel, depraved, and deserves severe punishment.”
FBI Director Kash Patel added, “The FBI will not tolerate criminals that harm innocent animals for their twisted form of entertainment. The FBI views animal cruelty investigations as a precursor to larger, organized crime efforts, similar to trafficking and homicides. This is yet another push in the FBI's crackdown of violent offenders harming our most innocent.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) affirmed another aspect, which is the need to stop this large-scale trafficking source of dogs to be used in fighting all over the country and possibly transported beyond U.S. borders. He stated, “This strategic prosecution of an alleged repeat offender led to the seizure of 190 dogs destined for a cruel end.”
LaShon Johnson’s “Mal Kant Kennels”
According to court documents, “Johnson, 54, ran a dog-fighting operation known as “Mal Kant Kennels” in both Broken Arrow and Haskell, Oklahoma. He previously ran “Krazyside Kennels” also out of Oklahoma, which led to his guilty plea on state animal fighting charges in 2004.
He was born in 1971 and was an American former running back and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons during the 1990s.
He was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1994 NFL draft. He also played professionally for the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants of the NFL and the Chicago Enforcers of the XFL (2001). Children and fans saw him as a "hero." But, he was arrested and pled guilty for dog fighting in 2004 and was arrested again in 2025 in the largest FBI bust on a dog fighting ring.
JOHNSON ACCUSED OF BREEDING “CHAMPION FIGHTING DOGS”
LeShon Johnson runs for a touchdown with the Giants. (Photo Credit: New York Post)
Because the tenacity of a Pit Bull fighting dog is largely determined genetically by its inherited, “bloodline,” the report explains that, “Johnson selectively bred 'champion' and 'grand champion' fighting dogs — dogs that have respectively won three or five fights — to produce offspring with fighting traits and abilities desired by him and others for use in dog fights.”
“Johnson marketed and sold stud rights and offspring from winning fighting dogs to other dog fighters looking to incorporate the Mal Kant Kennels “bloodline” into their own dog fighting operations. His trafficking of fighting dogs to other dog fighters across the country contributed to the growth of the dog fighting industry and allowed Johnson to profit financially,” the report states.
Older articles published by the American Dog Breeders Association [ADBA] in its magazines—and still available on its website and occasionally on-line--explain this in historical terms. The fighting characteristics and total-wins history of the parents (both males and females are fought) generally predict the tenacity and “gameness”--the willingness to fight to death--of the offspring; and a kennel that produces winners can sell its pups for thousands of dollars. The value of a puppy is not determined just by its own success but also by the potential of its generations of offspring, from future breeding and breeding rights sold to other kennels.
“Under federal law, it is illegal to fight dogs in a venture that effects interstate commerce and to possess, train, transport, deliver, sell, purchase, or receive dogs for fighting purposes,” the report states.
Johnson faces a maximum penalty on each count of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. However, this disclaimer was added: “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law."
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ) ANNOUNCES INDICTMENT
On March 25, 2025, the DOJ announced that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma had received the grand jury indictment charging Johnson with violating the federal Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act. (PACT).
This was the bill signed in November 2019 by then-newly elected President Donald Trump, which turned animal cruelty into a federal crime.
Johnson was indicted on 21 counts of "possessing 190 pit bull-type dogs for use in an animal-fighting venture and for selling, transporting, and delivering a dog for use in an animal fighting venture," the news release states.
If convicted, he faces a penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.
The dogs were reportedly seized from Johnson last October. The DOJ said it is believed that the number of dogs is the largest ever seized from a single person in a federal case.
According to the latest court filing, authorities seized screenshots of communication between Johnson and other parties discussing “the buying, selling and breeding” of fighting dogs.
U.S. prosecutors plan to prove that Johnson cultivated “fighting dog bloodlines” for years, and in some cases, decades, according to the Oklahoman.
DOG-FIGHTING OPERATIONS AFFECT PUBLIC SAFETY
Anyone can breed Pit Bulls—a dog with a genetic predisposition to kill—even its own. The breed has been genetically engineered since the days of bull-baiting to preserve its “blood lines” because professional and amateur dog fighters know that if this “spontaneous attack/kill” trait is dissipated or lost, it cannot be re-created.
Dog fighting takes place daily and nightly all over the country and has benefitted from the “No Kill” movement, which forbids the euthanasia of even dogs with a serious history of violent attack. We have to wonder why such supposedly caring animal advocates would encourage releasing these dogs to be in homes, public venues and which create fear and hatred by victims and their families and increasing concern by media outlets.
After a police raid on a dog fighting operation in the Philippines a few years ago, the rescue organization which was called to “save” the fighting dogs from euthanasia sadly discovered that the adopters who were taking the dogs (often someone’s grandmother) were being paid to return them to the owners who were fighting them.
WHY ARE SHELTERS RELEASING KNOWN-DANGEROUS DOGS?
Thus, when Pit Bulls are taken to shelters after a report of serous aggression and then made available for adoption to the general public, far too many reports appear in the media of children and adults becoming victims of attack and/or killed by a pet Pit Bull that “gave no warning.” It is likely there were warnings, but they had been explained away as accidents or circumstances.
Dog fighting is one of the most profitable “sports” in the underground. So much money can be made from so little effort, because the dog is doing what it is genetically designed to do. Gambling is addictive and so is the intensity of blood sports and death, which are part of early childhood “entertainment” in many countries, including areas of the U.S. Most dog fighters report either being exposed to street dog fighting in their neighborhood as a child or being taken to matches by parents.
There is also now a strong effort by leading humane organizations to prohibit BSL (Breed-Specific Legislation) in cities and states nationwide. This removes the rights of Americans to decide whether they want Pit Bulls--a dog that is genetically structured to attack and kill spontaneously--to live in their communities, cities or states. We need to ask “why?”
While the occasional prosecution of "professional" dog fighters like LeShon Johnson is encouraging for those who are concerned about the future of criminal enterprises, it does not affect the daily attacks and deaths of innocent victims, including beloved pets, who are disfigured, disabled or killed in their own neighborhoods.
“HALF-DEAD AND OTHER DOGS FROM HELL”
To demonstrate the unpardonable length of time this problem has been developing, L.A. Times writer Robert A. Jones called me one day in 1999 to ask some of the same questions now posed about the tragedy of dog fighting reported in Los Angeles and cities across the U.S and the breeding, fighting and sale of dangerous Pit Bulls who make the news after a local tragedy has occurred. I shared with him the experience of a dog called “Half Dead."
His article is still posted and starts, “Phyllis Daugherty was telling me the story of Half Dead, a pit bull used for fighting in South-Central Los Angeles. She came across Half Dead several years ago and believes his sad tale explains something about the rise in Pit Bull fighting and savage dog maulings across the city. “Half Dead was owned by a guy involved in dog-fighting,” she said. “Many dogfights are held in backyards in South-Central and this owner entered Half Dead constantly.
(Phyllis M. Daugherty is a former Los Angeles City employee, an animal activist and a contributor to CityWatch.)
