For years, a cockfighting operation hid in plain sight along County Road 528 near Verbena, Alabama, complete with a 150-seat arena, multiple breeding farms, and derbies advertised openly enough that attendees simply paid $30 at a gated entrance to get in. By the time federal agents finished their work, seven defendants, including Junior Williams, had been sentenced for running what investigators describe as one of the largest cockfighting operations in the country.
The operation ran from 2018 through June 11, 2021, according to AL.com. Centered on agricultural land, the family built a dirt-floor barn roughly 80 by 60 feet with dual fight pits and stadium seating for 150 spectators, according to AgWeb. Brent and Kassi Easterling ran L&L Gamefarm, while Billy and Tyler Easterling operated Swift Creek Gamefarm with help from Junior Williams, per the Montgomery Advertiser's account of the case.
Derbies Advertised Through Texts, Flyers and Social Media
The family did not keep the operation quiet. Derbies were openly advertised by group texts, social media, print publications, and flyers, AgWeb reports. In November 2019, Brent Easterling distributed the schedule for the 2019-2020 season of an event called Poor Man's Club, listing 17 fights for the year.
The Easterling properties housed approximately 4,000 birds. The Montgomery Advertiser also described the operation as encompassing three adjacent fighting-bird breeding operations alongside the arena itself.
Undercover Agents Close In
Undercover USDA agents infiltrated the pit in 2021, AgWeb reports, eventually leading to the arrest of seven Easterling family members that year. The case was investigated by the USDA Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to AL.com.
Seven defendants, including Junior Williams, were federally sentenced in stages: three on October 13, three on November 30, and one on December 6, 2022, in connection with the cockfighting and bird-breeding operations, AL.com reported at the time. A Justice Department statement similarly described the sentencing of a seventh and final Verbena resident for violating the Animal Welfare Act's prohibition on animal fighting ventures, closing out what it called an expansive cockfighting operation.
Combined Sentences and Fines
Altogether, the defendants received a combined five and a half years of prison time, two years of home detention, and four years of probation, per AgWeb's reporting. The federal law underlying the prosecution, 7 U.S.C. § 2156, makes it unlawful to knowingly sponsor or exhibit an animal in an animal-fighting venture, according to the U.S. Code.
Reported figures on the maximum prison exposure for federal cockfighting violations vary by source. AgWeb cites a maximum of three years per violation and up to $250,000 in fines, while a 2025 report from the Tuscaloosa News describes penalties of up to five years in prison and the same $250,000 fine figure. It is not clear from available reporting whether the two figures refer to different offenses or statutory provisions.
A Similar Case Surfaces in Blountsville
The Easterling case is not the only recent Alabama cockfighting prosecution to draw federal attention. The Tuscaloosa News reported that five people, James Murphree, Kasten Murphree, Kelby Murphree, Danny Gonzalez-Guzman and Kimberly Evans, were indicted over alleged cockfighting derbies held in Blountsville between March and June of 2025. Those are allegations, not findings of guilt. Spectators in that case allegedly paid $40 to attend, while competitors paid entry fees ranging from $70 to $1,000, per the same outlet's reporting.
Cockfighting bans have a long history in American law. AgWeb notes that Massachusetts enacted the first state-level ban in 1836, a detail that underscores just how long the practice has been outlawed somewhere in the country even as operations like the Easterlings' persisted into the 21st century.
