Jubail Celebrates the Midnight Mile

I met Jubail on the corner of 34th and 6th Avenue, and he shared this awesome tattoo:"Midnight Mile" is a song by Bouncing Souls, and it reminds him of coming home to New York City.Jubail, who has "nine or ten" tattoos, was a student at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.He was about to earn his commission as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army when I spoke with him, and he knows he can

Where The Wild Thing Tattoo Is

The day after I met one Jared, I met another, out in front of Madison Square Garden.With a tattoo like this:how could I not stop him?As one would imagine, Jared loves the book, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.The tattoo displays, on Jared's right forearm, one of the "Wild Things" that is in Max's imagination.Jared, who was in town visiting from Boston, has ten tattoos. He had been

Hell’s Angels in the town of Harlingen will not be disbanded or forbidden from operating

Hell’s Angels in the town of Harlingen will not be disbanded or forbidden from operating there. Since the prosecution did not succeed in a number of cases brought against the Hell’s Angels, it has decided to freeze all outstanding procedures against any of their clubs.

Sydney bikie known as the "enforcer" within the Comanchero and had a argument with Ibrahim only a week before the 35-year-old was shot

The Sydney bikie is known as an "enforcer" within the Comanchero and had a public argument with Ibrahim only a week before the 35-year-old was shot.shootings links of Fadi Ibrahim and Hells Angel Peter Zervas, with a well-known Comanchero now a major suspect in both cases.Sources have indicated that a visit to Silverwater jail by Mr Ibrahim and the Comanchero, and a subsequent argument, may have been the spark that led to the shooting.The pair had seen each other after visiting different people at the jail. Mr Ibrahim was there to see his older brother Hassan, or "Sam", on remand over the alleged kidnapping of a teenage boy earlier this year.According to one crime source, the pair started yelling at each other in front of prison guards and other visitors. "[The Comanchero] was saying, 'It's on, between you and me'," the source said.A week later, on June 5, Mr Ibrahim was shot five times as he sat in his black Lamborghini outside his Castle Cove home.
The Comanchero and the Notorious gang have been in conflict, and Notorious has been previously linked with some of the Ibrahim brothers. Mr Ibrahim had been dining with a senior member of Notorious, Alen Sarkis, at the Rose Bay restaurant, Catalina, only hours before he was shot.The suspect is not one of the six Comanchero charged with riot and affray over the fatal March 22 airport brawl.The Herald has previously revealed that another man, a former bikie and methamphetamine cook, is another prime suspect in the Ibrahim shooting, following bad blood over a six-figure debt.One source said it was well-known in the underworld that the Comanchero had shot Mr Zervas, on March 29, in anticipation of expected retribution for the death of Mr Zervas's younger brother, Anthony, during the fatal airport brawl.Police also consider a member of the Comanchero as a major suspect in the Zervas shooting.There are also other similarities between the shootings, with both men shot as they arrived home just before midnight by a person with a pistol. That person then ran across a road and disappeared - into a golf course at Castle Cove and a small park at Lakemba.In the Lakemba shooting police described the gunman as having a muscular build, wearing dark clothes and with collar-length hair. No description was given of the shooter at Castle Cove. Another similarity is that both men survived what appeared to be determined attempts on their lives, suggesting the killer was probably not "professional", sources said.Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Jared Shares His Vegan Tattoo

I met Jared while he was waiting for a train in Penn Station.After the Manhattan Mall food court closed last summer, I discovered this wide expanse of Penn Station (especially the Amtrak area) was great for inkspotting when the weather made normal traipsing about unappealing.Jared's ink runs down the length of his arm, from the top of his right bicep, down to the inner part of his forearm.As a

Old School Riders Three people were killed seven wounded

Three people were killed seven wounded Saturday in a drive-by shooting at a motorcycle club fundraiser in California, authorities said.The shooting occurred around 6:45 p.m. (9:45 p.m. ET) at a pizza restaurant in Pico Rivera, located about 15 miles east of Los Angeles, according to authorities.
"We don't know what type of vehicle was involved or how many," said Sgt. Ed Hummel of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.The event was being held by a group known as the Old School Riders. It is unclear whether the incident was random, Hummel added.The three people died at the scene. Their names are not being released pending notification of kin.Pico Rivera is a city about 15 miles east of Los Angeles

Tattoosday Boxcars: A Leonine Tattoo and Wearing One's Heart on One's Sleeve

I met Jeff and Jeanie in Penn Station as they were about to board an Amtrak train out of the city.I've been trying to come up with clever terms for different inkspotting phenomenon, basically creating my own lexicon.I'll call Jeff and Jeanie "boxcars". Meaning, I approached the two of them and gambled, asking them both to participate, and they came through. Like rolling two sixes on the dice (

Gina's Mayan Design

Earlier this month, I met Gina in Manhattan at the corner of 31st Street and 7th Avenue and I asked her about these tattoos:The main element is a the piece she had inked in January 2007, on a trip to Mexico.She went on a cruise to Mexico with her mother. While exploring some Mayan ruins, she made a rubbing of the design above, which bears some relationship to Xul, a canine god in the Mayan

Mark's Gypsy Tattoo Pays Tribute to the Female Singer-Songwriter

I have mentioned before that I tend to shy away from approaching subway commuters about their tattoos.However, like most of my self-imposed guidelines, I always make exceptions for work that is transcendent. That is, if the tattoos are supremely blogworthy, I will solicit, for the sake of the reader, people on the subway. One such case presented itself last week on the Brooklyn-bound N train.I

Leesa's Memorial Tattoos

There are certain signs I look for when I am scanning a crowd for tattoos. Colored hair and/or facial piercings are good, but not always reliable, indicators that someone may be inked. A guitar case, you would think, also favors the theory that its possessor has tattoos, but it's not always the reality.So when I spotted a tall woman walking out of Penn Station carrying what appeared to be a

Sarah Shoulders Her Slavic Heritage

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very productive Wednesday, speaking to five different people about their tattoos.Sarah is the last of those five that I an posting, and was my favorite of the group that day.This tattoo was her sixth (she has thirteen or fourteen) and is an homage to her Slavic heritage.The piece is based on the poster for a 1921 art exposition put on by the Czech Art Nouveau

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My Third Tattoo: A Hand Steeped in Faith

Last June, I wandered into a 711 and met a tattoo artist named Pete, who works under the moniker Sweetpea. Like most artists, he himself has amazing work. However, I was camera-less that day, so I gave him a flier and we went our separate ways.Later that week he e-mailed me and we scheduled to meet and talk about tattoos. We hit it off nicely and, in one of the perks of writing Tattoosday, I

Jake's Redd Foxx Tattoo Helps Us Celebrate Father's Day!

Last week, I posted about a trio of friends that had recently moved from San Francisco to New York, all of them inked.Jake was the first of the three to share his tattoo with us, and it is such a good piece, I saved it for a special occasion, Father's Day:This is, of course, a portrait of the great comedian Redd Foxx. People of my generation (X) remember him as the bristling curmudgeon in the

Ashley's Trio of Tattoos

I've always said that Tattoosday is 50% about the tattoos and 50% about finding them. But once in a while, tattoos just present themselves and I can't contain myself.Ashley is a case in point. She was at the laundromat the same time as I was, and she had two small tattoos inked on her feet. Out on the street, I likely would have let her walk by without stopping her, but there, as we stood around

Amy's Variation on a Sailor Jerry Classic

I met Amy one day a few weeks back, outside of Madison Square Garden.She estimates she has spent about 36 hours being tattooed, and that her body is "a work in progress".She offered up this tattoo on her left arm, which is a modified version of a classic Sailor Jerry design:The original concept is your basic naval tattoo design, with the "Stewed, Screwed, and Tattooed" slogan:This piece has been

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A German Gypsy in New York City

I met Dominic a couple of weeks ago out in front of Madison Square Garden in Penn Plaza.He was visiting from Cologne, Germany, and was displaying an arm with tattoos:Dominic has seven tattoos, most of which are based on traditional flash art.We looked specifically at his gypsy tattoo, which Dominic says is especially poignant:Why is this piece so meaningful? Dominic says his family once was very

Three Tattoos from Mary: Marilyn Monroe and Robert Frost, Fire and Ice

What jumped out at me when I saw Mary in front of Penn Station, on a drizzly late afternoon during Rush Hour, was this amazing tattoo on her left bicep:Marilyn Monroe tattoos are not incredibly unusual (click here to see those that have appeared on this site previously), but this one strays from the glamorous and dabbles in the tragic.What we see is the back of her head, passed out on a make-up

Two for Tattoosday: Some Traditional Work Imported from California

Last week I spotted a young tattooed woman chatting with a friend outside of the Chelsea Whole Foods store. I hesitated because I was running late, but doubled back across the street and introduced myself. As it turned out, Krista and her two friends, Ryan and Jake, had recently moved from San Francisco to New York. All of them had tattoos.Her friend Jake shared his first, but I am deferring that

Matt Wears His Heart (of Bacon) on His Sleeve

I first met Matt a year or so ago when he and his wife Allison opened the gourmet grocery Robicelli's in our neighborhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (there's more on Robicelli's here).It was only recently, however, when I popped in to pick up some of their incredible gourmet cupcakes (the "Irish Car Bomb" is my favorite), when I spotted this amazing tattoo on the inside of his left forearm:So it

Mike's Tribute to His Thai Heritage

There are generally two kinds of Tattoosday subjects (and by subjects I mean people):Those that let me take a picture or two and I never hear from them again, and those that send me nice messages and a correspondence more or less develops.Last weekend I met a guy named Mike at the laundromat (which is turning out to be quite a lucky locale for inkspotting) and he falls in the latter category.Not

Lawrence Dean Bergstrom wanted member of the Nanaimo Hells Angels arrested on Friday

Lawrence Dean Bergstrom was arrested at 11 a.m. along Foul Bay Road near Kings Road. He made his first court appearance in the afternoon.
The day before, Nanaimo RCMP conducted a search warrant at Bergstrom's home south of Nanaimo.Officers discovered police identification and uniforms, stolen computers and other items used for identity theft.Two men were arrested but Bergstrom was not at the house and police issued a warrant for his arrest.Victoria police acting sergeant Conor King confirmed Bergstrom's identity and that he was arrested without incident. He could not confirm any other details about the arrest.A nearby resident, however, watched the arrest take place.
Greg Kent heard the sirens from his house and went to watch. Over the loudspeaker, he heard officers order a driver to throw his keys out the window and leave his vehicle.Kent saw four officers pointing their guns at a man inside a black Infinity. He watched as Bergstrom was ordered to walk backwards on his knees towards the officers. Police then handcuffed him and searched his pockets, withdrawing what looked like a white package.

A Dozen (or So) of Ed's Sixty-Eight (Approximately) Tattoos

Every neighborhood has at least one or two of them: old-timers who have retired from the workforce and can now shed their suits and proudly display what they have accumulated over a lifetime: their vast tapestry of ink.Ed lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (my neighborhood) and worked for a bank for forty years. Even today, when the stigma of tattoos is dissipating with the changing times, Corporate

John's Demon Sleeve

Under normal circumstances, I may not have stopped John, as I tend to not feature full sleeves here on Tattoosday. However, last Wednesday I was on a roll, and he gladly modeled his right arm for me:Here's a little better look at that demonic face that dominated the bicep:John's ink, which he estimates covers 25% of his body, has no specific meanings, the artwork is just a form of expression.

Tattoos in the News - Friday Jones Fifth Avenue

Sara from W Magazine just e-mailed me about a couture studio in New York's Flatiron District.She writes:"...Thought you might be interested in our article on Friday Jones Fifth Avenue, the "couture" tattoo saloon located inside the Flatiron District's Senses NY Saloon & Spa. Classically-trained tattoo artist and owner Friday Jones has catered to a clientele of Hollywood stars and socialites

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Audrey's Wrist Tattoos Keep Her Grounded

Last week I had a wonderful Wednesday of inkspotting, photographing four tattoos at lunch, and those of a fifth volunteer after work.The run started with Audrey, whose tattooed wrist caught my eye in the plaza in front of Borders.As it turns out, Audrey has both wrists done:Her left wrist bears the slogan "Be Present" and the right wrist hosts a series of Roman numerals.The "III.XX.MMVIII" refers

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Jason's Lucky Devil

I spotted Jason walking among the crowds during the annual Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Festival.He had sweet tattoos on his forearms but he chose to share one, near and dear to his heart. His wife chimed in that it was her favorite as well.Where once there was a "bad tribal/skeletal dragon," there is now this phenomenal new tattoo on his left bicep:This was, he told me, his groom's gift, a tattoo

Raids in Quebec targeted Hells Angel gangs drug trade and members last Wednesday, the Ontario government seized the Niagara chapter's clubhouse.

Raids in Quebec targeted Hells Angel gangs drug trade and members last Wednesday, the Ontario government seized the Niagara chapter's clubhouse. "This is just another blow to them," said OPP Det.-Sgt. Len Isnor, head of Ontario's multi-police force Biker Enforcement Unit. On May 26, the 14-year anti-biker investigator joined a B.C. colleague before a parliamentary committee which was debating whether to name the Hells Angels an organized crime group in the Criminal Code. "If they schedule them as a criminal organization, we won't have to go through the five-month process (to prove the motorcycle gang is a criminal group), tying up the courts," Isnor told the Sun, comparing the current lengthy court process to concluding "water is wet."
At present, each time a Hells Angel is convicted, police and prosecutors must prove -- under a 1997 law -- that he operated for the gang's benefit, plus the gang's ranking as an organized crime organization. Once found guilty, however, the law requires longer, consecutive prison sentences. But Isnor predicted if Parliament approves the change, it will face a constitutional challenge, "since it involves a person, not a substance like cocaine." Revving up charges against organized crime has been a big factor in keeping Hells' membership almost stagnant, he said. Criminalizing the gang will be the first big change to federal organized crime laws in 12 years. Seizing the Welland clubhouse June 1 -- the fourth taken over under Civil Remedies for Illicit Activities (CIRA) legislation -- was the latest blow in the province.

The Hells have about 170 "full-patch" Ontario members plus countless associates in biker and non-biker gangs eight years after gaining their first foothold, Isnor said. "Most of them are in the Toronto area," with four chapters here -- in Oshawa, Woodbridge, Keswick and Simcoe County.

Other CIRA seizures since 2006 included Oshawa, Thunder Bay and London clubhouses.
A court ruled last year the Oshawa property on Ortono Ave. could be sold, Isnor said. It remains on the market. Police arrested 30 members in the Oshawa raid.
In April 2007, police seized the Hells' downtown Toronto chapter clubhouse on Eastern Ave. as an offence-related property, $500,000 cash, nine kilos of cocaine, over 80 weapons and 500 litres of the date-rape drug GHB. Isnor said the building's status "is still before the courts" until it is ruled as an asset of crime, and several chapter members pleaded guilty to crimes; others still face trials.
Criminologist Stephen Schneider, author of the recent book Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada and a Saint Mary's University professor in Halifax, said police have done a better job targeting bikers in recent years. Focusing on undermining chapters, investigators "learned their lesson." In his book, experts say police and the justice system "dropped the ball" 20 to 30 years ago by letting bikers -- especially the U.S.-founded Hells -- spread their dark wings.
There are numerous motorcycle gangs, but

the Hells "are the biggest in the world," with about 3,000 members in 248 chapters based in 30 countries, plus a network of associates. Isnor said.

More than one-quarter of Canada's 450 Hells are in Ontario, Schneider said.
For decades, the gang nibbled at the province's lucrative drug, prostitution, loan-sharking and auto-theft underworld, succeeding only after recruiting arch-rivals. Boasting about 100 Hells, the "highest concentration of Hells Angels in the world," Schneider said Toronto "was always the jewel in the crown for every biker gang."
With police recruiting informers and officers keeping a close eye on chapters, some spurned the Hells, but Isnor said the gang moves members to bolster ranks reduced by arrests -- as they did in Niagara. Eroded by members being jailed, that chapter became leaderless this March when founder and clubhouse part-owner Gerald "Skinny" Ward, 61, was sentenced to the equivalent of nine years and his lieutenant, Ken Wagner, 43, was sentenced Oct. 7 to the equivalent of 11 years. They orchestrated delivery of four kilos of high-grade cocaine in 2005 and 2006 to Oshawa member Steve Gault, who became a police informant. More important, they got stiffer terms after Justice John McMahon agreed the Hells fit the description of a criminal organization. Five-to eight-year terms were also meted out to 15 other Hells, including three Niagara members. In court, Gault warned the Hells controlled Niagara's drug trade and "they'll kill ... pointblank" anyone trying to cut in.
Officials said Wagner's sentence was the first in Canada for directing others in activities to benefit a biker organization. When Steven "Tiger" Lindsay and Ray Bonner of the Woodbridge chapter were convicted of extortion, their sentencing in 2005 recognized for the first time that a Hells committed a crime as part of a gangster group, Schneider wrote. The law required the judge to order consecutive sentences instead of normal concurrent terms, ensuring longer jail time. Lindsay got six years instead of four, Bonner got three instead of two. Within six months, police targeting major drug trafficking raided Hells and associate clubhouses in B.C., arrested three in Manitoba, plus 27 in Northern Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. Five were Thunder Bay members, including Cambridge restaurateur Andre Watteel, an ex-Satan's Choice member who later led the Hells in Kitchener. After paying a fine and being granted jail time already served, Watteel recently moved to Niagara to help keep its required six-member chapter status secure, Isnor said.

"The Hells Angels are unprecedented in the annals of Canadian organized crime in that they are the first truly national criminal organization, with cells and/or associates in every province and territory," Schneider writes. "Canada has become somewhat of an international stronghold for the motorcyle club."

The cops are increasingly watching, ready to move when their intelligence networks yield sufficient evidence to unseat a chapter, he said. In the first of two days of raids in Quebec last Wednesday, which resulted in 46 arrests of mostly Hells and associates, more than 600 officers seized a suspected gang-linked cocaine and tobacco fortress on the Kahnawake reserve that served the streets of Montreal. Police seized cocaine, pot, Ecstasy, tobacco, cash, plus a dozen guns. Suspects included an Ontario-based Hells living in Montreal, plus Salvatore Cazetta, 55, co-founder of the Rock Machine gang -- who joined the rival Hells after the Quebec war. Cazetta was associated with Maurice "Mom" Boucher, 66, later the Hells' brutal boss in Quebec, who masterminded the bloody gang war after Cazetta was jailed in 1994.
Rounded up in a Hells sweep of 150 gang members in April, Cazetta was awaiting a bail hearing on drug trafficking charges when arrested in jail last Wednesday and accused of ties with several associates in the Kahnawake warehouse. On the lam for importing 11 tonnes of cocaine until arrested in Fort Erie in 1994, he was extradited to the U.S. and sentenced in 1999 to 12 years after pleading guilty to drug trafficking. Montreal police Insp. Bernard Lamothe told a news conference the Hells set up "business links" with two arrested Kahnawake residents and ran a drug network "in several places throughout Quebec."

‘Phone in a Bikie’

“Bikie gangs are highly organised and sophisticated criminal organisations, whose members have been convicted of serious crimes such as sexual assault, murder, robbery, abduction, property damage, drug trafficking and firearms and weapon offences. ‘Phone in a Bikie’ campaign aimed to gather information from the public, but also to remind the WA community of the negative impact outlaw motorcycle gangs had on society. “These groups have for years been fooling the public into believing that they are a social club, or a group of innocent joy-riders out for a pleasant motorcycle ride. They are not,” he said. “I encourage the public to help police stop the criminal activities of bikies in WA and phone Crime Stoppers if they think there could be activity involving a known or suspected Outlaw Motor Cycle Gang (OMCG) member, or associate.” The phone-in initiative follows recent clashes between outlaw motorcycle gangs in the Eastern States. Similar tensions between bikie groups are known to exist in WA. Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Crime) Wayne Gregson said anyone with relevant information could safely talk to Crime Stoppers anonymously and help stamp out WA’s criminal organisations.“We don’t want to know who you are, we just want to know what you know about bikies, their activities, their friends and associates,” Mr Gregson said. “Even something as innocuous as car or motorcycle registration numbers, bikies’ colours (patches) and their places of employment could make all the difference.”WA Police have actively targeted outlaw motorcycle gangs and carried out numerous raids in the past 18 months on private and business premises with known bikie connections.A dedicated taskforce, Operation Jupiter, has already achieved a social cost saving of $46.5million for the WA community based on the amount of drugs seized. Other results from Operation Jupiter include:

· 834 people apprehended (304 were OMCG members, nominees or associates)

· 1841 charges laid (976 were OMCG members, nominees or associates)

· 71 firearms and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition seized

· 7.1kg of amphetamine type stimulants and 1,050 ecstasy tablets seized

· 58.3kg of cannabis seized, along with 402 cannabis plants

· 545 traffic infringement notices and 405 work orders issued to OMCG members, nominees or associates.

Dennis Hines founder of the Nomads gang that operated in Horowhenua and Wairarapa for many years and was notorious for violence has died.

Dennis Hines, 55, has died in Waikeria Prison, apparently of natural causes. The Corrections Department confirmed yesterday that Hines had died on Sunday.Spokeswoman Dianne Brophy said: "[Hines] had been unwell for some time. He alerted staff to a change in his condition and they took immediate action to assist him, and contact emergency services." Ambulance staff found him dead.Hines was sentenced in 2005 to 5 1/2 years' prison for conspiring to supply methamphetamine. The judge described his record of 93 previous convictions, stretching back to 1969, as "formidable" and "appalling".They included violence, threatening to kill, wounding with intent, dishonesty and drug offences.A former Black Power member, Hines formed the Nomads gang that operated in Horowhenua and Wairarapa for many years and was notorious for violence.His death has been referred to the coroner.

Surprise panda cub born at zoo in Thailand Photos and Pictures

Surprise panda cub born at zoo in Thailand Photos and Pictures : The tiny panda cub that fits in the palm of your hand.BANGKOK - A healthy panda cub was born Wednesday at a zoo in northern Thailand.Staff artificially inseminated Lin Hui, a 7-year-old female, on Feb. 18, but had seen no signs she was pregnant, Chiang Mai Zoo’s director Thananpat Pongamorn said.“She’s been anxious since yesterday.

Brian's Amazing Angelic Ink

On Saturday, I was at the park, playing ball with my daughter, and I noticed a guy off in the distance with some dark ink on his upper arm. When we were ready to leave, I ambled on over to him.What I initially spotted was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Brian was more than generous in rolling up his sleeves and sharing his astonishing work. He showed me both biceps and his back piece

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