Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Cockfight Raided; 296 Are Arrested

Animal protection officers raided what was being billed as a national championship cockfight, arresting 296 people who were betting thousands of dollars on the birds, authorities said. New York City police joined officers from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the raid, the ASPCA’s largest ever, said John Foran, the group’s chief administrative officer. Following a two-month undercover investigation, the officers stormed an old Bronx movie theater transformed into an arena with bleachers overlooking an octagonal fighting pit.