The war between street artists and the law shows no sign of abating. If anything, it's intensifying. The vandal squad's genuine love of catching writers is a well known phenomenon in the graffiti world. Likewise, any artist with his heart in the right place will tell you that without the illegal aspect, it just wouldn't be the same. It seems even as security measures grow tighter and legal consequences more punishing, the movement is bigger than it's ever been.
This article covers some of the more prolific, landmark, absurd, or just unlucky cases in the ongoing battle between street artists and the law. It contains only arrests and information widely reported in the news media, or from published interviews with the artists themselves. No government names or mug shots have been used. In cases where outcomes are unknown, charges are merely accusations. Every arrest here goes deeper than what has been reported in the media: please think carefully before making "corrections" in the comments.
This article covers some of the more prolific, landmark, absurd, or just unlucky cases in the ongoing battle between street artists and the law. It contains only arrests and information widely reported in the news media, or from published interviews with the artists themselves. No government names or mug shots have been used. In cases where outcomes are unknown, charges are merely accusations. Every arrest here goes deeper than what has been reported in the media: please think carefully before making "corrections" in the comments.
The 50 Biggest Street Art Arrests
SMEAR, Los Angeles
Date: 2011.
Punishment: Two weeks prison, 45 days of graffiti cleanup.
The day after The Los Angeles Times published an article about SMEAR's newfound gallery success, his house was searched as part of a probation check. They seized markers, stickers, wheat-paste posters, prints, and a copy of the newspaper with SMEAR's article before ordering him to turn himself in for probation violation.
SMEAR was on a long probation period for tagging buses in 2007. He was also named in the unique city injunction against the MTA in 2010, which aimed to prevent him from profiting off any artwork sold under the name SMEAR. “They've obtained an unfair advantage because they gained fame and notoriety through criminal acts,” said Anne Tremblay, assistant city attorney. “This is unlawful competition.”
In court he was given two weeks in jail and 45 days of graffiti removal for posting photos of illegal graffiti on his website.
OVIEONE, New York
Date: 2009.
Punishment: Between two and four years in state prison.
OVIEONE is allegedly the first New York writer to do state prison time for graffiti.
Caught after a search warrant on his email turned up photos of graffiti on trains, he is now adverse to any kind of technological storing or sharing of graffiti.
"In case of an event that you guys want to go hit, please ... do not get anything that has to do with digital technology," he said in a YouTube video. "Don't have no digital shots on your computers, don't have memory case lying around, don't conversate [sic] through emails ... Basically don't have anything to do with Internet actions online."
DPM, London
Date: 2008.
Punishment: Four members received 18 months in prison, one member received two years, three members received suspended sentences.
British crew the DPM were first noticed by police after targeting trains and railways across Europe in 2004. They were monitored as part of a two-year investigation which allowed police to bring maximum charges. The British press called it "one of the largest graffiti conspiracies to be brought to court."
DPM defense lawyers argued the crew were just trying to achieve the same fame as those artists starring in the street art exhibition opening at the Tate Modern that day. With street artists like BLU and JR adorning the Museum's exterior, one DPM member remarked, "I know that half, if not all of the graffiti that is on the Tate Modern building is done by people who do illegal graffiti or have done illegal graffiti and have made their name doing that."
Judge Christopher Hardy said that although he admired their artistic skill, it was "a wholesale self-indulgent campaign to damage property on an industrial scale." He gave five of the eight sentenced jail time.
In support of DPM, the Anonymous Gallery in SOHO put on an exhibition called DPM: Exhibit A. Each of the crew members had work in the show next to a copy of their rap sheets.
OCP, Los Angeles
Date: 2010.
Punishment: Unknown.
OCP drew the interest of the Sheriff's Department after they were filmed tagging a bus and train in the chaos following the Lakers' 2009 championship win. The overnight raids netted drugs, weapons, and stolen property. With 31 warrants served and 15 members arrested (reports vary), Lt. Erik Ruble of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department called the OCP "thugs and menaces," which in some parts of LA would be considered a compliment.
MFONE, Pittsburgh
Date: 2007.
Punishment: Two-and-a-half to five years in prison, $234,000 in restitution, 2,500 hours of community service, probation for life.
MFONE was the number-one vandal in Pittsburgh when police arrested him in 2007. On his person was his digital camera and 80 minutes worth of video.
Along with their brand-new graffiti database, they built a case against MFONE that accused him of half a million dollars worth of damages, even linking him to another tag—"BROWN EYES"—by comparing the E's.
MFONE pleaded guilty to 79 counts of criminal vandalism and was sentenced to between two-and-a-half and five years in state prison. He was also given $234,000 worth of fines, and community service equal to full time work for a year.
The word "FORGIVE" was painted on at least three buildings in the area, including a huge display on the Arsenal Terminal building at 40th and Butler streets.
The Junobo Paint blog reported he was released after a year.
MTA, Los Angeles
Date: 2009.
Punishment: Unknown.
In a series of early morning raids, Sheriff's officials arrested seven men they claimed to be MTA, the crew behind the half-mile-long MTA blockbuster in the LA River.
After the US Army was brought in to remove the piece, a civil suit brought by Carmen Trutanich's office sought $3.7 million in graffiti-related damages for 500 incidents of MTA vandalism. The suit also sought to place an injunction on the crew, with rules usually reserved for curbing gang activity like not being allowed to associate with each other, and having to observe a curfew. In this case it would even apply to the entire state of California, not just certain neighborhoods. The legal battle is ongoing.
STAYHIGH149, New York
Date: 1973.
Punishment: Fined $20.
STAYHIGH149 's arrest came after a picture of his face appeared in an eight-page graffiti feature in New York magazine in the early '70s. The piece included pictures of STAYHIGH tags and a STAYHIGH train. With police finally able to put a face to the legendary moniker, STAYHIGH was arrested whilst "motion tagging" a month later. He was fined $20 and he decided to change his tag. He began writing VOICE OF THE GHETTO instead, which was inspired by seeing a copy of The Village Voice on the subway.
2ESAE, New York
Date: 2007.
Punishment: Three months in prison.
New York writer 2ESAE was surprised to get a three-month prison sentence in Brooklyn for graffiti: "They really had nothing on me, so I was thinking this whole time that I was going to be let off," he said.
With his public defender, he got three months on Rikers. This would overlap with a court appearance for 43 counts of criminal mischief, trespassing, and graffiti that came with a potential seven years of jail time. The second round of charges had been brought against him after footage for a documentary was turned up in a separate raid.
2ESAE's arrest was highly publicized because of his involvement with the Graffiti Research Lab, who threw a big fundraiser/going away party the night before he went to Rikers. All proceeds went to getting him a better lawyer.
TOX, London
Date: 2011.
Punishment: Twenty-seven months in prison.
Crankily dubbed "the scourge of the Underground," the prolific TOX tag had been appearing in London for nearly ten years with the last two numbers of the year next to it (i.e. TOX03, TOX04).
He was finally arrested in '11 after being caught on the CCTV that makes England the most videotaped country in the world.
At trial the defense told the court their client had retired TOX after an arrest in '05. Therefore TOX09, TOX10, and so on must be the work of TOX admirers. They even brought in ex-graffiti artist Ben Eine to testify that the TOX tags were "incredibly basic", with no "skill, flair or unique style," so anybody could have been writing them.
TOX was found guilty. As he awaited sentencing, BANKSY put a stencil up near his old house in Camden; a little boy making bubbles that spelled out T-O-X. The owners of the house quickly covered the piece with a Perspex shield. The irony of this was lost on nobody, except the judge, who gave TOX 27 months in the slammer.
POSTER BOY, New York
Date: 2009.
Punishment: Three years probation, 210 days community service, 11 months prison, reduced or suspended.
POSTER BOY was arrested by plain-clothes police at an art gallery in SoHo after his name appeared on the show flier. A short time later, The New York Times received an email saying POSTER BOY wasn't the man in question, but "a movement."
At the initial hearing, POSTER BOY maintained his innocence and refused a plea bargain. Later he pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal mischief as POSTER BOY and got the felony conviction scratched in exchange for 210 hours of community service and three years of probation.
Following a bunch of petty re-arrests and a missed court date, a few months later POSTER BOY was sentenced to 11 months on Rikers. He was out again after two weeks.
O'CLOCK, New York
Date: 2001.
Punishment: Unknown.
French legend O'CLOCK was arrested in NYC after police saw him videotaping graffiti as he traveled downtown on the Number 5 train. They stopped him at Battery Park and seized his camera, as well as several cans of paint. Upon viewing the video, they realized that they had O'CLOCK, the same tag that had appeared on an E train a few days beforehand. They then placed him at the scene of the crime by analyzing his Metrocard. O'CLOCK was charged with filming in the subways, possession of graffiti instruments, and resisting arrest. The outcome is unknown.
WYSE, Boston
Date: 2011.
Punishment: Case pending.
The man alleged to be WYSE was arrested in November last year while photographing "fresh" graffiti on a train. There were eight warrants for his arrest written between 2007 and 2010. Charged with vandalism for a minimum of 30 train cars, he is currently being held on a substantial $80,000 cash bail. “He’s a big one. They’ve been chasing him for years,” said MBTA Police Deputy Chief Lewis Best.
LA ROC, New York
Date: 2011.
Punishment: 45 days in prison.
After tagging several well-known spots in the East Village (including the Joe Strummer wall and Kenny Scharf mural on the Bowery/Houston wall at the time), LA ROC was arrested and caused to miss his own exhibition opening.
Two weeks later, he was arrested again for tagging. Heidi Follin, whose gallery represents LA ROC, said he was upset at his wife's death weeks before.
This time he was sent to Rikers Island for 45 days. After he was released, LA ROC told The Local East Village he wasn't going to do illegal graffiti anymore.
Source: Complex