State Police executed a search warrant about 8 a.m. Friday at 1118 La. 89, arresting Floyd J. Boudreaux, 70, and his son, Guy Boudreaux, 40, on 64 counts of dog fighting, 64 counts of animal cruelty and one count each of possession of anabolic steroids.

Dog fighting is illegal in the United States. If the chickens were used for cockfighting, that is legal in Louisiana.

Laura Maloney, executive director of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said animal health advocates have known of Floyd Boudreaux for years.

"He's been fighting dogs for about 50 years," she said. "He's famous in the dog-fighting world, he's revered, he's legendary."

Maloney said the SPCA has tried without success in the past to get law enforcement interested in Floyd Boudreaux, to whom she referred to as a "Dogfighting Don."

"Now he's the Dogfighting Don without Teflon," she said, in reference to the nickname of former New York mob boss John Gotti, known as the "Teflon Don."

Maloney and a team of 20 workers with the state SPCA and help from the Humane Society of the United States spent much of the day at the arrest site near the intersection of Youngsville Highway (La. 89) and La Neuville Road loading dogs into cages and onto trucks for transport.

She said the Friday arrest and seizure would be a definite blow to Louisiana's underground dog-fighting industry.

A neighbor of the Boudreaux's, 23-year-old Byron Girouard, said he doesn't believe the allegations.

"I don't believe they were fighting those dogs," he said.

Girouard said he's known the Boudreaux's all his life, and while they sold dogs from all over the world, "I just don't see them fighting bulldogs."

He said Floyd and Guy Boudreaux shouldn't be held responsible if buyers decided to use dogs bought from the Boudreaux's for fighting.

"Guy was like a father to me," Giroaurd said. "They've always been there when I needed anything."

State Trooper Willie Williams said that the gaming section of the State Police Bureau of Investigations began its investigation, looking into allegations of gambling on dog fights, in January.

Investigators allege that the Boudreaux's have been fighting the dogs, as well as breeding, training and selling dogs for fighting purposes, Williams said.

Officers from State Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Immigrations and Customs Enforcement cooperated in serving the warrant Friday, he said.

Williams said the father and son were cooperative and gave agents no trouble during the search and arrest.

Other Boudreaux family members at the scene declined comment other than a warning to be careful about what was written about the incident and that the family might have much to say about the incident after news accounts come out.

Maloney said that Floyd Boudreaux has bred at least two lines of dogs known around the world for their strength and fierceness.

"For the dog fighters, he's a hero," she said. "He's the Babe Ruth of dog fighting."

Maloney said the dogs could sell for us much as $10,000.

"He's big money," she said.

Maloney said that, because the animals had been bred for strength, handling them in bringing them off the property was not an easy task.

"Sometimes, it took several people just to load one dog, and we're skilled at it," Maloney said.

Sandy Christiansen, a regional coordinator with the Humane Society, said he assembled a small team from around the country to assist in getting the dogs off the site.

"Dogs from here were going all over the world," he said.

Christiansen said he's seen bigger sweeps of suspected dog-fighters' animals, but the numbers in this one were still substantial.

He said that raids on suspected dog-fighter breeding grounds such as the one on the Boudreaux site can be dangerous.

"There's some pretty ugly characters that get involved in that," Christiansen said.

He said that the dogs were taken to a secret location, and will likely eventually have to be destroyed.

"These dogs have been hard-wired for decades to do what they do," Christiansen said