Vallone Jr.’s “vendetta”
Posted October 12th, 2005 by eliot
Legacy Queens councilman and Giuliani-wannabe Peter Vallone Jr. is once again dragging his favorite scapegoat around the city’s newsrooms:
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.
January 16th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
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!
January 16th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
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?
February 1st, 2006 at 10:51 am
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.
March 16th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
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
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:52 am
[…] As reported in today’s NY Daily News, KIKO, a 28 year-old graffiti writer, was sentenced to 6 months in prison and forced to pay a $25,000 fine for his recent tagging spree in Astoria. Fanatical anti-graffiti critic and name recognition councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who once proclaimed, “I want this punk, and I want him bad… Catching this guy has been a personal vendetta of mine for a few months now” is credited with supporting some of NYC’s harshest graffiti laws ever, some of which were recently struck down as unconstitutional. He has used this issue as his personal soapbox for the past year or so, totally generating more press for himself than anything else he’s done. Although we do think KIKO should be punished in some form or another, specifically public service, we don’t think that any graffiti writer should ever have to serve jail time. In the long run this hurts the community more than any tag could. If anybody wants to do any peaceful renovations demonstrations, we suggest they travel to the belly of the beast. Here is Peter Vallone’s home address, 21-46 19th St. as provided by his own district office and press hack, Andrew something or other. So stop by, check out the lovely views of the Triborough Bridge and the massive Con Ed power plant, plus exercise your 1st Amendment writes. Crack dealers are never prosecuted with the same vigor that has been given to this kid KIKO Six months is a hard sentence for writing on a wall. This kid might as well have been writing on a bathroom wall, because we never heard of him until the news got hold of this story…. Explore posts in the same categories: General Interest, Artists, News, Design […]
November 8th, 2006 at 2:48 am
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.
January 24th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
i think he got off ok…
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
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……
March 16th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
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!!…