Source:
AOLDid anyone in the Atlanta Falcons organization know that Michael Vick was involved in dog fighting? If not, was that because they were willfully ignorant?
A report in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls Vick's involvement in dog fighting "an open secret," but says that no one who knew of it told anyone in the Falcons' front office. The biggest problem was that the information was mostly in the form of vague rumors:
Since 2004, several anonymous people had called PETA claiming dog fights were being staged on Vick's property in Surry County, Va. Vick bought the land in 2001 specifically to set up a dogfighting operation, federal authorities now allege.
The tips were "not specific enough that we or anyone else could do anything else with it," said Dan Shannon, PETA's assistant program director. But "when the name Michael Vick is involved, it perks your ears up."
The organization passed the information to law enforcement officials in Virginia, Shannon said. Even then, he said, he knew it was too vague for police to obtain a search warrant.
Read more:
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/05/report-mike-vick-dogfighting-an-open-secret/
Atlanta Journal-Constitution link
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/09/04/vickfalcons_0905.html