Photo of NYPD Vandal Squad undercover at Adidas’ End to End Project by Trubdizzle.

For the past couple weeks, stories have been going around about a former NYPD vandal squad cop set to release a book on some of New York’s most prolific graffiti writers. This rumor was confirmed when Amazon added the forthcoming book to its website. The book, Vandal Squad by Joseph “Joe Blow” Rivera is expected to be released by Miss Rosen Editions, the “urban culture and lifestyle” imprint of Powerhouse Books, in December 2008.

Recently, Graffnews.com, which has sourced the most information on the book, posted a list of writers who are expected to be named, which include SI, LES, FEES, FACET, PEN, SHINE, DECK, CAP, MENOS, JA, FOE, and SKUF. They also posted an excerpt from Rivera about tracking down MENOS.

After several months we caught a break at a graffiti exhibition in lower Manhattan. I was on the roof of a three-story brownstone with binoculars. It was abeautiful night. Half of them were gathered outside,just hanging out, flipping through their photos, the usual. Then one of the guys pulled out a can of spray paint and tagged the sidewalk. When several spectators moved out of the way I could read the tag: MENOS.

Predictably, some people are pissed off and nervous.

Welcome to America, a retrospective of artist Dread Scott’s work on “the social, economic and political transitions occurring through the United States and the globe”, is on display at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA). The Daily News turns up the sensationalism with a polarized view of the exhibit, focusing on just two pieces to write, “A cop-bashing art exhibit at a taxpayer-funded museum in Brooklyn portrays the city’s Finest as trigger-happy racists who have put bull’s eyes on the backs of black New Yorkers.” [Gothamist]

Image of “The Blue Wall of Violence” by Dread Scott.

Valentine’s Day saw the return of Sky Watch, the NYPD’s friendly neighborhood guard tower, to Nostrand Ave and St. Marks Ave in Crown Heights. Stopping to take a commemorative photo, we were interrupted by four undercover cops stationed nearby, who wasted no time with niceties. “What are you, a terrorist? You look like you’re taking photographs of the officers in that secure area so you can follow them home to hurt them or kill them! Cops get death threats, you know!” Remember when last year East Harlem Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito said, “We need to build community relations, and these things send the wrong message. There should be interaction on the street, instead of towering over people.” Somehow, this doesn’t seem like the interaction she was talking about. Perhaps the NYPD could try approaching more people as humans, not as would-be terrorists and cop killers.

Oh snap! Artist Ellis G has filed a notice of claim, letting the city know he plans to file a $5 million lawsuit for false arrest, unlawful imprisonment and pain and suffering. Last October the NYPD arrested artist Ellis G for drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, the kind that washes away with water. Despite the fact his drawings weren’t illegal, he was held in jail for 17 hours before the graffiti charges were dropped.

Gallagher says his $5 million complaint is not about the money—he knows it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to squeeze much out of the city—but about the principle. “I want peace of mind—no fear of arrest or harassment, freedom of expression, knowing that I can go to sleep at night doing what I do without fear of being incarcerated,” he says. “I think [the NYPD] should reassess their priorities and not waste taxpayer dollars on policing people for chalking sidewalks.” Which is apparently something they’ve been doing quite a bit of over the years.

Photo by C-Monster on Flickr.

As though stories of Sky Watch towers dominating the Shea Stadium lot scene weren’t interesting enough, the NY Times dropped some more knowledge about the towers:

Originally designed for deer hunters in Georgia, the towers have been used by the military and police departments across the country over the last decade.

We had no idea the towers had been around so long, or that they could be used for shooting people like animals.

Photo by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

We’ve fallen behind in reporting on the MadeULookNYC wholecar graffiti drama, but we’ll fix that. To recap, 10 subway cars were painted with the name “Made U Look” in late December, and shortly thereafter a website selling t-shirts of the hit appeared (albeit under the name MadeULookNYC). Finally, because of the website’s shady business we speculated that the NYPD might be behind it. Although graffiti writers criminals in general do some stupid things (like DRO caught breaking into a store while videos in his car of his crew painting), selling t-shirts via Paypal seems too dumb.

Now, to silence critics and cash in, MULNYC is auctioning live video footage of their feat on Ebay. Though we’re curious about the legitimacy of the video and the auction is only at $25, we’ll probably hold off and invest our money in the amazing Britney Spears hair art for sale. That seller has 99.3% positive feedback, and MadeULookNYC has none, to say the least.

Link: MadeULookNYC Video on Ebay

Welcome everybody’s favorite NYPD watch tower back to Crown Heights. Sky Watch is now posted up on the corner of Nostrand Ave and Prospect Place. A word of caution: If you decide to be neighborly and drop off a housewarming gift, don’t rack it from the Key Foods across the street. Sky Watch doesn’t take too kindly to anybody stealing fruit baskets on its watch.

Screenshot of NYPD visit on Sitemeter (Click for full screen).

The days when undercover cops only sold drugs, sex and guns to catch criminals may be over. It seems they’ve also entered the cheap t-shirt business. If you were thinking of buying a t-shirt commemorating Made U Look’s painting of 10 whole NYC subway cars, you may want to reconsider now. Rumors and suspicions have circulated for a while that the New York City Police Department was behind MadeULookNYC.com, but until we saw a tipster’s screenshots of our very own Sitemeter, the story didn’t have any legs.

Screenshot of source code on MadeULookNYC.com with same Statcounter code as referral address.

The images show multiple visits from the NYPD were referred to Razorapple.com from inside a password protected Statcounter belonging to MadeULookNYC.com. It appears as though the police were carelessly monitoring internet discussions and collecting information for their investigation.

Leary of their address request to send us a free t-shirt, we started asking questions, some of which are included after the jump.

Continue reading: NYPD Going Undercover as Graffiti Writers — Online?