The scourge who has been defacing buildings, vehicles and trees across the borough was busted this week after becoming the No. 1 target in Councilman Peter Vallone and the 114th Precinct’s anti-graffiti crusade.
“I want this punk, and I want him bad,” Vallone (D-Astoria) proclaimed, following the Tuesday morning arrest of Oliver Siandre, 27, better known by his tag, “Kiko.”
“Catching this guy has been a personal vendetta of mine for a few months now,” Vallone added.
Vallone Jr. — who inherited his council seat from his father — was one of the main hot-air opponents of Marc Ecko’s street party and made a big stink about Cope2’s Time Magazine billboard. He constantly bleats to whatever reporters will listen about the menace of graffiti-writing hoodlums run amok. Now he’s playing the white-collar Dirty Harry at press conferences, claiming Kiko caused $100,000 in damage. The showboating demagogy of Vallone Jr.’s personal role in the pursuit of KIKO and the studied stupidity of the Daily News’ tabloid style are both symptoms of a public culture that’s beyond rotten. Doesn’t anyone get sick of this cheap, cynical grandstanding?
Photo from vidiot‘s flickr photostream.
kiko shouldnt be guilty! graffiti writers consider this an art and so do i!
The city doesnt know shit about art. Gradditi writer express their
feelings and thoughts on walls and nothing is going to stop them!
I think KiKo should go free with harsh bail but the Dirty Harry Bullshit of 100,000 dollars damage is BS. As an officer in the system, the kid had his fun and i think he is done. Free speech right?
Ok so they caught one out of a million out there… seriously i dont think my
cuz to be the worst of the worst. I mean if u really travel around queens u
would see many more tags out there lets say i.e. : Nato, and Bruce, and Teaz
now THESE GUYS are literally all over for years they been out there, and
vallone is going after ollie as if he was the king of all graff lol… But hey wasn’t
vallone the one who didnt want ecko to do his block party and almost had
mayor bloomberg change his mind about it too? Vallone is just trying to get
votes that he shouldn’t get he is a hater that is all… what ollie should get is
crazy community service lol and not harsh time.
Hey,
I am doing a piece on the precieved difference between graffiti and street art- I’m looking to talk to Oliver about his situation if anyone can forward my email/contact to him. We’ve heard Vallone, we need the other side- Peace, Kendra callitastyle@yahoo.com
I ran into Kiko a couple times… 1 time was on 30th ave, saw him high up, tagging a billboard on a busy evening. real nice kid (looked like a kid)… lotta people who’ve met him say hes good guy. he just happens to like graffiti. he chooses his spots well i think… doesnt write on churches or anything. though i think he did the infamous “brooklyn bridge spot”. thats what i hear, and if its true, it could partly be what brought the attention to him. also, since Vallone lives in Astoria, im sure Kiko wrote near his house somewhere, and a lightbuld went off in Vallone’s head. but honestly, he really isn’t different from any other graffiti writer in NY. damage wise at least… there’s much worse.
Vallone’s just trying to get cheap publicity… most politicians do to get more attention and be well known with voters.
i think he got off ok…
if you think this is bad what about his new vendetta against all “pit bull” dogs. if it is up to him they will all be euthanized. he is trying to outlaw owning or adopting these beautiful innocent dogs(resolution 156) instead of doing the more challenging thing and going after the irresponsible and cruel people who abuse these animals. the funny thing is he calls himself an animal activist……
my nephew doesnt deserve to do jail time with these harsh criminals. specially with rikers fame!..i hope vallone doesnt ever have to send one of his own family member to rikers, just to justify that hes actually doing something for the city!!..theres alot of worse people out there that need to b incarcerated, like child molesters, and rapist, now those are the people he should really go after if he seeks fame!!…
I was very angry at P.Vallone Jr, my councilman , for making me write to him for 1 1/2 years with no response about no city services to prevent or help our neighborhood for the suffering homeless cats overrunning our area. I had to write to other representatives c/o about him before he responded BUT I’m glad that he cares for the pollution issue and is against putting poisonous fluoride in city water.