Remember the graffiti bombers who were tagging signs and buildings with the old UPN network logo? I wrote about them back in February 2006.
Turns out it wasn't bitter "Shasta McNasty" or "Homeboys in Outer Space" fans, but an actual crew of taggers who used the name as an abbreviation for "your property next," or "under pig's noses."
And turns out -- I hadn't noticed this until I went back right now to look at the post -- they left a couple of comments on that blog post in late 2007. One, "Droogsta," wrote:
WERE NOT A GANG OR TAGBANGERS...WERE ARTIST WERE BOMBERS...
AND YEAH IT STANDS FOR ALOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS....
UR PUSSYS NEXT
UP NASTY
UNDER PIGS NOSES
USIN PERMISSION? NAW
I gotta admit, I kinda like that "Usin Permission? Naw" one.
Now, according to KABC Channel 7, cops arrested 11 of the UPN members on Thursday.
And no, the UPN krew didn't include Dean Valentine or Lucie Salhany. The details:
Deputies staged a major bust on tagging crews in Los Angeles. Eyewitness News went along for the bust Thursday morning.
The first target was a father whose work can be seen all over a Wilshire Center neighborhood. The man's group is called "UPN." On Thursday, authorities arrested 11 of their members.
"UPN stands for either 'your property next,' or 'under pig's noses,' depending on what mood they're in. This is a tagging crew that's responsible for between $480,000 and $1 million worth of damage to the L.A. County transit system," said Commander Dan Finkelstein, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has begun cracking down on taggers recently. Earlier this summer, 24-year-old Cyrus Yazdani was arrested for allegedly painting the infamous "Buket" signs all over Los Angeles freeways.
Authorities used internet sites, like YouTube and MySpace to track down taggers. In some instances, all they needed was their signs.
"The most obvious tip is their tag, which, in a way, is them signing their name," said Commander Finkelstein. "If a bus is tagged, we can find out where this bus was tagged. And then we start working that neighborhood. And, no surprise ... street signs in that neighborhood are tagged. And then you find out that it might be this person. Go to their house ... the lawn furniture is tagged ... the thermostat is tagged."
That is similar to the type of evidence authorities found in one suspect's home on Thursday. There were pictures of his work, bus passes to places he had possibly tagged, and a gun. It was kept loaded in the same room where he sleeps with his 4-year-old daughter.
Still at large: The notorious PAX TV and DUMONT tagging gangs.
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