Vick deeply into dogfighting, father says...

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Vick deeply into dogfighting, father says
QB's dad says he didn't abandon family

By BY MATT KEMPNER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/24/07
Michael Vick's father said he pushed his son to quit dogfighting years ago or, at least, put property used for the fights in the name of friends to avoid being implicated some day.

Michael Boddie, in two sometimes tearful interviews with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week, said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family's home in Newport News, Va. Boddie also said Vick kept fighting dogs in the family's backyard, including injured ones — "bit up, chewed up, exhausted" — that the father nursed back to health.





Boddie, who is estranged from his son, dismissed the idea that Vick's longtime friends were the main instigators of the dogfighting operation.

"I wish people would stop sugarcoating it," Boddie said. "This is Mike's thing. And he knows it."

He "likes it, and he has the capital to have a set up like that."

Daniel Meachum, an attorney for Vick, said his client never mentioned situations described by Boddie, nor discussed Boddie in relation to dog activities. "It's a disgrace Mr. Boddie, who chose for nearly 22 years not to be part of Mike's life, would at this time seek to capitalize on his son's current situation."

Vick's mother, Brenda Vick Boddie, who hasn't lived with her husband for the past five years, did not return calls seeking comment.

Boddie said he and the Atlanta Falcons quarterback have had a volatile relationship for years and that his son has refused to speak with him directly for the last 2 1/2 half months. Boddie said he is speaking out because he's been hurt by his son and wife's failure over the years to correct what he considers inaccurate media reports that Vick grew up without his father present.

"I've been drug through the mud," Boddie said.

He said he intends to write a damaging book about more of what he knows.

Boddie, 45, lives in a Duluth apartment that his son has paid the rent on for the last three years. Vick, who has a $130 million contract with the Falcons, also gives him a couple of hundred dollars every week or two, the father said.

Boddie wanted more. Two years ago, he said, he asked Vick for $1 million, spread out over 12 years, enough to keep him comfortable for the rest of his life. Vick declined, the father said. In recent weeks, Boddie asked Vick, through an assistant, for $700,000 to live on.

Boddie said he hasn't been contacted by federal investigators pursuing dogfighting accusations against Vick. A federal grand jury indicted Vick with one count of conspiracy to cross state lines to engage in illegal gambling; to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture; and to buy, transport and receive dogs for animal fighting.

The indictment does not mention the parents' former home in Newport News, where Boddie said he cared for Vick's pit bulls and where he said three dogfighting session were held, roughly around the time that Vick was transitioning from college football to the pros.

Earlier this week, Vick agreed to plead guilty Monday in the federal dogfighting case in Richmond. He faces prison and the possible end of his football career. Three co-defendants already pleaded guilty and were expected to testify against Vick if the case went to trial. In addition, a Virginia prosecutor is considering bringing state charges against Vick.

Anger and anguish

Boddie lives in an apartment, just a few miles from where his son lives in the upscale, gated Sugarloaf neighborhood. Posters of the football star are thumb-tacked to the walls of a guest bedroom. A picture of Vick's two young children is framed on a wall near the kitchen. Hung on a wall beside the kitchen sink is a long list entitled "Quick Drink Recipes."

In language blanketed with profanity, a sometimes sitting, sometimes pacing Boddie recounted what he said was some, but not all, of what he knows about his son. At times while discussing his wife and children, Boddie appeared to alternate between anger and anguish. His cellphone rang several times. At one point he answered, paused, unleashed an expletive-laced torrent of words and marched out of the apartment with the phone to his ear. He later said the caller was an assistant of Michael Vick's who asked what he planned to disclose to a reporter and urged him to keep quiet.

"I know some things," Boddie said. "That's why they're going crazy."

He said he's not perfect. He said he hasn't worked since 2003, went through drug rehab in 2004 paid for by his son, was sometimes high or drunk around his children when they were young, has gotten in trouble for drinking and driving and had his driver's license revoked.

"There are some things I wish I could go back and change," he said.

But Boddie said he gave Vick something that most kids didn't have in the Newport News housing projects where both grew up: "I never left his side. Never left his mother's side. And where we come from, this day and time, that's a hell of a thing."

He and Vick's mother weren't married when Michael Vick was born. But they married later and Boddie said he lived with the family from the time Vick was 3 years old until after his eldest son went to Virginia Tech to play football. He said he was usually working during Vick's youth, often on jobs sandblasting and repainting ships.

He said he is frustrated about continued suggestions that Vick was raised without a father. He said his son and wife should have set the record straight.

But in a 2001 AJC article about their son, his wife was quoted as saying that Boddie's presence in Vick's childhood "means a lot to me."

"He was always there, providing, taking care of what needed to be taken care of. Through everything, we stayed together as a family. I have a lot of respect for him for that."

But in other press reports, both Michael Vick and his mother suggested that Boddie was an emotionally distant father. He "never paid that much attention to me," Vick said, according to a Sports Illustrated story in 2000.

Boddie said that, over the last year, his son has been disrespecting him, "talking to me like I'm one of his . . . dogs."

Boddie said he's tried to look out for his son. Around 2002, while at Vick's rural property near Smithfield, Va., he warned his son.

"I told him basically, 'You don't need to be doing this. You got bigger fish to fry. You got more important things that you can do.' "

Boddie recalled telling his son to transfer the property to the name of one of his friends: " 'Take this place right now, put it in one of their names because if anything goes wrong . . . it's you they coming after.' "

Boddie said he doesn't recall his son's reply.

Boddie also said dogfighting occurred at the family's Newport News home on Terrace Drive. The family was in the house for about a year or more as Vick moved from playing college football at Virginia Tech to the pros.

Boddie said he cleaned out the home's garage three times in 2001 to make room for dogfighting sessions held by Vick and his friends.

"I hung around long enough to actually walk in there when an actual dogfight was going on," Boddie said, but he added that he didn't stay long.

"It wasn't my thing," he said.

He said he had already witnessed test fights of dogs — in which dogs battle to see how well a prospective fighter will perform.

"It's really something to stand there and watch. You have to have the stomach for it," he said.

Boddie said Michael Vick kept pit bulls in eight cages in the backyard of the Terrace Drive home.

However, a neighbor, Willie-Mae Hansell, said she only saw one dog at the house, and never heard anything unusual there.

"I fed the dogs," Boddie said. "I've nursed them back to health, dogs that have been in fights. Raised litters of puppies."

The injured dogs could barely muster up enough strength to eat at first, he said.

Boddie contends that Vick's mother was aware of the dogfighting and said he heard her tell her son to stop it.

Boddie said of his son: "I think he basically told her, 'OK, Mama. OK, I'll stop.' "

Boddie said he wasn't aware of any dogfighting in the Newport News projects when Vick grew up there. The closest he recalled was kids being fascinated as dogs chased stray cats in a nearby lumber yard.

He said that, despite his earlier warnings to his son, he never expected Vick would someday face the dogfighting troubles he is in now.

"I thought he would have gotten out of it by then, gotten it out of his system."

Vick foolish to tweak plea, risk going to trial
QB living in fantasyland by denying guilt of killing dogs, gambling

Brian Bahr / Getty Images
Michael Vick is taking a big chance by risking his plea deal and possibly going to trial, writes contributor Michael Ventre.

OPINION
By Michael Ventre
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 1:16 p.m. ET Aug 24, 2007


Michael Ventre


Confusion in the huddle.

Now it appears Michael Vick won’t admit to killing dogs and gambling when he enters his plea Monday in a Virginia courtroom. Instead, he wants to slip out of bounds quietly and without incident by admitting only to a charge of interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting.

Instead of plunking down thousands of dollars to see dogs rip each other apart, it seems Vick is interested in a much bigger gamble.


Vick’s defense team and the feds were hammered out a plea agreement that had the quarterback admitting guilt only to funding the dogfighting operation and not to gambling or explicitly killing dogs — only that "efforts" by a group led to the deaths of 6-8 dogs.

What this looks like, though, is that Michael Vick is still in denial.

When the dogfighting story first broke, Vick initially said that he had nothing to do with what was going on at his property, that he let a cousin live there, and that he didn’t know a large kennel there was involved in criminal activity. By virtue of Vick’s willingness to plead guilty to anything — even just the interstate commerce charge — we now know that that story was a big lie.

Vick also lied to Falcons owner Arthur Blank and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when he denied any involvement in dogfighting.

Three witnesses gave details to the feds that Vick was heavily involved in the operation. Then Vick’s three co-defendants all turned on Vick, stating that, among other offenses, Vick was present when at least eight underperforming dogs were killed in a gruesome manner. One of them stated that Vick took part in the hanging or drowning of dogs that didn’t do well.

Also on Thursday his father Michael Boddie, with whom he has had a contentious relationship, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Vick had staged dog fights in the family home in Newport News, Va., sometime around 2001, and that he has asked his son to stop the practice. Boddie may not be the most credible witness of all the others involved — he has repeatedly asked Vick for money to live on — but considering what has come out of the quarterback’s mouth since this whole situation first broke, he might as well be Honest Abe Lincoln.

In this latest development, Vick is trying to carve out a deal through his attorneys similar to one that his agents might make with Nike or Rawlings, or the Falcons. He thinks that he is a star athlete, that this is a negotiation that he should win, and that the other side will eventually capitulate when they realize who he is.

Vick wants desperately to avoid responsibility for this mess that he helped create because he wants everything to be like it was before. He wants his money. He wants his fame. He wants his reputation. He wants to be able to play quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, to be adored by fans, and to elude trouble.

That’s why he has lied at every turn. Deep down, away from all the national outrage, the disgust expressed by animal activists, the sadness expressed by Blank, the harsh disapproval stated by Goodell, the determination of prosecutors, Vick truly believes this is no big deal. He has never apologized for what happened to those animals. He has only apologized to his family and his team for putting them through a scandal.

He’s a practitioner of dogfighting, which means for several years now he has starved and mistreated pit bulls so he and his buddies could get a cheap thrill. And when the thrill was not as expected, he hanged, drowned or electrocuted dogs.

This is sociopathic behavior. He has no conscience about any of this. To Vick, this is all a nuisance, and he wants it all to disappear so he can get on with football.

But this isn't that simple.

Even though the feds caved, Vick can still — and should — be reprimanded by Goodell for continuing to gamble, because Vick will be betting his life and career.

It is already believed by many in and around the case that U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, the presiding judge in the case, may not simply rubberstamp Vick’s file despite the plea deal being reached. The preliminary sentencing guidelines carry a sentence of between 12 and 18 months. Hudson said while he considers the guidelines, he is not bound by them. He told co-defendant Purnell Peace: “I have the authority to construe the guidelines the way I think is appropriate. Do you understand that?” Later in the same session, he said: “If I give you five years, you can’t appeal that.”

This is a judge that does not seem inclined to dispense slaps on the wrist. If he is willing to nail each of the co-defendants for sentences that go beyond the sentencing guidelines, then what might he do to a guy like Vick if he detects that Vick is not telling the truth and is not truly remorseful for his actions?


If that never happens and this goes to trial, that will be the end of Michael Vick. Instead of Vick deftly working the system in order to come out unscathed, instead the coming weeks will only succeed in adding more horrors to his reputation.

The feds have three witnesses and another three co-defendants. If this goes to trial, they will go out and round up a lot more ammunition. Logic suggests there were more than six people besides Vick at those dog fights in an operation that crossed into several states. Prosecutors will find more witnesses, squeezing those who are reluctant, and that means a lot more details about what transpired and how deeply involved Vick was.

Eight dogs have been mentioned in most reports as being the most recent victims of depraved behavior by Vick and his cohorts. The dogfighting operation had gone on between 2002 and 2007, dog carcasses were found buried on the property, so therefore it’s not a stretch to think a lot more mayhem occurred.

Here’s a simple question: If Vick wants to admit in his plea bargain that he was present when dogs were killed but did not actually kill dogs himself, then why didn’t he do something to stop them from being killed?

There’s no good answer to that. But when Vick is finished admitting to as little as possible, he may take a step back and realize that in the judge’s eyes he has actually admitted to everything.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20424404/

As much as I think Michael Vick is guilty as sin, I also think the dad is trying to rub things in. He doesn't sound like a trustworthy guy, either.

Vick is cooked. He's crazy if he goes to trial. This story simply sickens me.

I heard on the radio today that actor/comedian Jamie Foxx is another defender of this bastard. Go figure.

Yea it seems like certain people don't get it. I can't stand it when they say " oh it's only dogs" :rolleyes:

Yea it seems like certain people don't get it. I can't stand it when they say " oh it's only dogs" :rolleyes:
Me either. What don't they get? What makes them think that animals aren't deserving of protection? People who will harm animals are one step away from harming a human being. :mad:

Me either. What don't they get? What makes them think that animals aren't deserving of protection? People who will harm animals are one step away from harming a human being. :mad:
That's what I believe. That's how serial killers start.:mad:

That's what I believe. That's how serial killers start.:mad:
Yep. That is not to say all people who hurt animals end up serial killers, but it is more true than not, that if a child or teen hurts animals, they end up being abusers. And it is a fact that serial killers who have been caught and had their lives investigated, they almost always hurt animals at some time in their life.

What gets me is that money wasn't Vick's motivation, so he was into it for other reasons. In it for savage amusement, apparently. Right down to the way he killed the dogs. Why not a bullet to the head? Why the hanging, drowning, electrocutions? Don't get me wrong. A bullet makes me sick, but it seems that Vick wanted all aspects of his operation to be brutal and sadistic. I ****ing hate him. This story gives me nightmares.

I heard on the radio today that actor/comedian Jamie Foxx is another defender of this bastard. Go figure.
More dirty dealing with the race card. :rolleyes:

http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah6563.shtml (http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah6563.shtml)

Jamie Foxx Defends NFL Star Michael Vick Over Dog Fighting Charges

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (August 23, 2007) – Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson recently sat down with Jamie Foxx for a candid talk about Jamie’s new gig – and even a hot button topic from the world of sports – Michael Vick’s dog fighting charges.

Jamie is busy doing his thing on “The Foxxhole,” his weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio show. And while an incredible LG Beach House in Malibu provides a spectacular summer backdrop, no subject is off-limits with Jamie, as Shaun found out during her stay as a special guest.

“Is he really going to jail?” Jamie asked Shaun about Michael Vick.

“Yes, he’s going to plea bargain,” Shaun said.

Although Vick has been almost universally condemned since agreeing to plead guilty to dog fighting conspiracy, according to Foxx, people should not be so quick to judge the NFL star.

“It’s a cultural thing, I think,” Jamie said. “Most brothers didn’t know that, you know. I used to see dogs fighting in the neighborhood all the time. I didn’t know that was Fed time. So, mike probably just didn’t read his handbook on what not to do as a black star.”

While he has a way of lightening even the most sensitive of subjects, Jamie is sincere in his belief that the quarterback is not being given a fair shake.

“I know that cruelty to animals is bad, but sometimes people shoot people and kill people and don’t get time,” Jamie continued. “I think in this situation, he really didn’t know the extent of it, so I always give him the benefit of the doubt.”

On Monday, Vick said through a lawyer that he will plead guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture.

Vick is scheduled to appear next Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia. According to reports, the recommended sentencing range will be from 12 to 18 months in prison.

“It’s a cultural thing, I think,” Jamie said. “Most brothers didn’t know that, you know. I used to see dogs fighting in the neighborhood all the time. I didn’t know that was Fed time. So, mike probably just didn’t read his handbook on what not to do as a black star.”

I didn't have Foxx as a stupid idiot in my mind, but with statements like these, he's convinced me. What a fool. "It's a cultural thing." No. It's a criminal thing. It's a barbaric thing. Vick is losing his freedom and his career, and that's a beautiful thing.

The more people defend this guy, the dumber they look. :rolleyes:

“I think in this situation, he really didn’t know the extent of it" Ignorance of the law is no excuse. He should've found more information on it. Especially, the consequences, before getting into it. Jamie Foxx is just as bad for defending him.

Vick knew it was wrong. He took steps to hide it, and lie about it when caught. He financed and ran an extensive dogfighting operation. He bought the property for this purpose alone. He transported dogs across state lines. Jamie Foxx is a moron comparing it with dogs fighting in the streets growing up. Foxx knows the difference. He's just defending his buddy, you know, keeping it "real". :rolleyes: