Illegal slaughterhouse
Acosta, Rudesindo "Rudy"
Cardova, Luis
Estevanez, Javier
Rudesindo Acosta Javier Estevanez Luis Cardoza
Pet-Abuse.com
Sep 3, 2011
Rudesindo "Rudy" Acosta, 57 was arrested this afternoon and charged with numerous counts of animal cruelty in the operation of an illegal slaughterhouse on 97th Avenue in Hialeah.
Discovered were pigs, goats, cows, sheep, horses, and ponies; all inhumanely crowded inside feces filled spaces waiting to be slaughtered. Many of the animals were sick or near death. Twelve of the animals were in such poor physical condition, they had to be euthanized by authorities during the raid.
The remaining animals have been placed with various rescue groups in South Florida and throughout the US.
Richard Couto, president of Animal Recovery Mission went undercover and acted as a buyer while he secretly videotaped the egregious cruelty of Acosta and the three other men who were also arrested today. Animals were beaten with sledge hammers and held down, tortured and stabbed as the buyer stood by until the end when the animal's meat was packaged and sold.
"They've got poles where they can hang the animals and everything. It's pretty bad," said Steve Rubin, who volunteered to rescue the animals.
"They were killing all the animals with sledgehammers, axes, flame throwers," said Couto.
"They have all sorts of things in there, like blowtorches and chainsaws and stun guns. Half the time they don't even kill them, they just cut them up while they're alive," said Andrew Malek with Animal Recovery Mission.
According to Couto, if you knew the right person the customer would just go to the front gate and choose their animal. Customers were showing up today to buy chickens and turkeys for their Thanksgiving dinners.
Animals were slaughtered outdoors where their blood has been seeping into the ground giving authorities concern that the city's water supply may have been compromised.
Couto filmed the video showing the torture of a bull and two pigs in September and turned the evidence over to the Hialeah Police. His investigation began two years ago. According to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the video portrayed
"Acosta brutally beating an animal with a sledge hammer as it squeals out in pain and then stabbing it for profit."
Acosta has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty, one count of using firearms during the commission of a felony, 40 counts of animal confinement, and three counts of conspiring to commit animal confinement.
Just last month on October 23, Couto found another horse murdered in Miami-Dade. In 2007, there were more than two dozen horses killed in horrific slayings. Couto organized a raid of several illegal slaughterhouses in the C-9 Basin Section of Miami-Dade resulting in the arrests and conviction of several other men involved in the brutal torture of animals.
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF ARREST WARRANT FOR RUDESINDO ACOSTA
On or about September 3, 2011, 'Richard Couto- entered -The Premises" and observed and
documented the slaughter of a swine. The swine was restrained within a structure. Once restrained,
the swine was struck on the head with a metal sledge hammer repeatedly. Each strike stunned but
failed to kill said animal. The swine was pursued as it attempted to escape and eventually fell to the
ground. At that time, an individual, referred to as the butcher, took a metal knife with a blade
approximately one foot long and plunged it into the swine in the area of the chest, near its heart. He
then struck the swine several more times with the hammer. He then kicked and dragged the swine
across the trailer. The swine continued to struggle and cry out as the butcher then attempted to gut
the swine while it continued to cry out and struggle. The incident was observed and recorded by
"Richard Couto'.
On or about September 3, 2011, 'Richard Couto- entered -The Premises" and observed and documented the slaughter of a swine. The swine was restrained within a structure. Once restrained, the swine was struck on the head with a metal sledge hammer repeatedly. Each strike stunned but failed to kill said animal. The swine was pursued as it attempted to escape and eventually fell to the ground. At that time, an individual, referred to as the butcher, took a metal knife with a blade approximately one foot long and plunged it into the swine in the area of the chest, near its heart. He then struck the swine several more times with the hammer. He then kicked and dragged the swine across the trailer. The swine continued to struggle and cry out as the butcher then attempted to gut the swine while it continued to cry out and struggle. The incident was observed and recorded by "Richard Couto'.
On or about October 29, 2011, -Richard Couto"' entered "The Premises" and observed and documented the slaughter of a cow. The cow was being chased by several apparent employees of the farm. The cow was slaughtered in the presence of two male customers who had come to purchase the meat. The Cow was eventually caught and restrained with a rope placed around its neck. Several individuals restrained the cow as the recognized director of the farm approached the cow and shot it in the head. The gunshot stunned but failed to kill the animal. Instead, the butcher again stabbed the cow in the neck with the foot long metal knife and attempted to cut off its head as the animal struggled. Other individuals attempted to capture the blood that was now flowing from the cow's neck in a container to make blackened sausage. The animal attempted to get up several times during the slaughter. One individual attempted to further restraint the animal by placing his foot and leg upon the body of the cow while another placed his leg upon the body of the cow. The animal was eventually slaughtered and butchered and the meat was sold to the two customers. The incident was observed and recorded by "Richard Couto'.
On or about October 29, 2011, "Richard Couto"' entered -The Premises" and observed and documented the slaughter of another swine. The swine was selected and cornered by the butcher. Once cornered, the butcher struck the swine on the head repeatedly with a sledge hammer. Each strike stunned but failed to kill said animal. The swine was pursued as it attempted to escape and eventually fell to the ground. The Butcher then stabbed the swine in the chest while the swine attempted to escape. The swine continued to struggle and cry out as the butcher then attempted to gut the swine while it continued to cry out and struggle. The incident was observed and recorded by "Richard Couto".
Case Updates:
Fifty-seven-year-old Rudesindo "Rudy" Acosta, 43-year-old Javier Estevanez, and 24-year-old Luis Cardoza were booked Saturday by Hialeah police after a local animal rights activist turned over undercover footage of animals being inhumanely slaughtered on an illegal farm.
Two 14-year-old "butchers" were also arrested and released to their parents, according to Eddie Rodriguez of the Hialeah Police Department.
Richard "Kudo" Couto - the activist responsible for shutting down the nearby C-9 Basin, a hotbed of illegal slaughter - secretly stalked the farm and made several tapes of animals being killed. Besides the footage we posted, which showed a screaming hog being stabbed and bludgeoned by Cardoza in a filthy, blood-soaked pen, another tape showed a cow's head slowly being sawed off in order to collect blood for black sausage.
According to Couto, horses and ponies - among myriad other farm animals - were slaughtered on the farm.
Acosta appears to have run the farm, although it's tough to call him the operation's owner because it was completely unlicensed and he was apparently squatting on land owned by the City of Hialeah.
His underlings have criminal histories in Miami-Dade County. Estevanez was charged with false imprisonment and battery in 2005; both charges were eventually dropped. In 2007, Cardoza was convicted of burglary and grand theft.
Cardoza and the two minors were Acosta's godchildren, according to police spokesman Rodriguez.
An estimated 600 animals were rescued from the farm. "Of all those animals, some were euthanized on the scene because they were in that bad condition," Rodriguez says. "Some of them have died on their way to the rescue locations. We're working on a new head count of the surviving animals."
Acosta faces 47 charges, including three animal cruelty felonies stemming from Couto's footage. Cardoza has been charged with four felony counts. Estevanez faces two felonies.
Brutal Illegal Slaughter Farm Raided in Hialeah (Warning: Graphic Video)
November 19, 2011
By the time you're reading this on Saturday afternoon, Kudo's efforts should have led to another multi-agency raid on a massive illegal slaughter farm in Hialeah. He's been secretly taping the place for months.
Here's a video Kudo made of a hog being brutally slaughtered-- on behalf of another customer-- on the farm that was raided today. Be warned: Watching this footage could ruin your Saturday evening.
We'll be posting much more information on the raid in the coming week. For the time being, Kudo and animal welfare agencies are looking for people to take in rescued animals from the farm: Horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, hogs, cats, dogs, and a variety of fowl.
3 men, 2 teens arrested for running illegal slaughterhouse
November 21, 2011
HIALEAH, Fla. - A total of five people, including two 14-year-olds, were arrested over the weekend, accused of running an illegal slaughterhouse on city property.
Rudesindo "Rudy" Acosta is charged with three counts of animal cruelty, one count of using a firearm during the commission of a felony, 40 counts of animal confinement and three counts of conspiracy.
Also arrested were Acosta's godson, Luis Cardova, 24, and Javier Estevanez, 43. Two 14-year-olds, also Acosta's godson's, were taken into custody. Officials say the four worked as butchers in Acosta's operation.
In an affidavit, graphics images showed Acosta slaughtering two pigs and a cow.
"They've got poles where they can hang the animals and everything. It's pretty bad," said Steve Rubin, who volunteered to rescue the animals.
Police said Richard Couto with the Animal Recovery Mission photographed Acosta killing the animals.
"They were killing all the animals with sledgehammers, axes, flame throwers," said Couto.
"They have all sorts of things in there, like blowtorches and chainsaws and stun guns. Half the time they don't even kill them, they just cut them up while they're alive," said Andrew Malek with Animal Recover Mission.
According to the affidavit, on Sept. 30, Acosta repeatedly hit a pig in the head with a sledgehammer. He then stabbed the pig with a knife and dragged it across the slaughterhouse near Northwest 97th Avenue.
On Oct. 29, prosecutors said Acosta and several others restrained and killed a cow and another pig.
Prosecutors said Acosta was running the slaughterhouse on land owned by the city of Hialeah. They added that the slaughterhouse was in a land zoned as raw agricultural area, meaning no structures could be built there.
A total of 600 other animals were rescued on Saturday. Five had to be euthanized on site and several died overnight. Rescue workers are not sure why the animals died, but think it may be from disease. Many of the animals are heading to farms in Ocala and Okeechobee.
City officials will be inspecting the area's drinking water as blood from many of the live kills could have seeped into the water supply.
Meet the Illegal Hialeah Butchers Who Killed Hogs With Hammers and Sawed the Heads off Live Cows
November 21, 2011
If you watched the video we posted Saturday of a hog being slaughtered in incredibly brutal fashion, these are the three fellows you should thank for putting you off your lechón forever.
Fifty-seven-year-old Rudesindo "Rudy" Acosta, 43-year-old Javier Estevanez, and 24-year-old Luis Cardoza were booked Saturday by Hialeah police after a local animal rights activist turned over undercover footage of animals being inhumanely slaughtered on an illegal farm.
Two 14-year-old "butchers" were also arrested and released to their parents, according to Eddie Rodriguez of the Hialeah Police Department.
Richard "Kudo" Couto -- the activist responsible for shutting down the nearby C-9 Basin, a hotbed of illegal slaughter -- secretly stalked the farm and made several tapes of animals being killed. Besides the footage we posted, which showed a screaming hog being stabbed and bludgeoned by Cardoza in a filthy, blood-soaked pen, another tape showed a cow's head slowly being sawed off in order to collect blood for black sausage.
According to Couto, horses and ponies -- among myriad other farm animals -- were slaughtered on the farm.
Acosta appears to have run the farm, although it's tough to call him the operation's owner because it was completely unlicensed and he was apparently squatting on land owned by the City of Hialeah.
His underlings have criminal histories in Miami-Dade County. Estevanez was charged with false imprisonment and battery in 2005; both charges were eventually dropped. In 2007, Cardoza was convicted of burglary and grand theft.
Cardoza and the two minors were Acosta's godchildren, according to police spokesman Rodriguez.
An estimated 600 animals were rescued from the farm. "Of all those animals, some were euthanized on the scene because they were in that bad condition," Rodriguez says. "Some of them have died on their way to the rescue locations. We're working on a new head count of the surviving animals."
Acosta faces 47 charges, including three animal cruelty felonies stemming from Couto's footage. Cardoza has been charged with four felony counts. Estevanez faces two felonies.
