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KIKO Will End Up Making More Money Than Ever Off of Graffiti Thanks To Vallone

This week The Village Voice did a cover story on KIKO, the graffiti writer that was virtually unheard of before a greasy haired politician with too much time on his hands made him famous. Hailing out of Astoria, where even most graffiti writers didn’t know who he was till his name started getting splashed all over the NYC tabloids and newspapers, KIKO became public enemy #1, well to Vallone at least, when he went on an all out tagging spree in Queens. Anyway, he’s currently at Riker’s Island serving out his 6 months and even in jail KIKO he’s been getting “graffiti” work:

[H]e immediately ingratiated himself by drawing graffiti-style Christmas cards for his cellmates in exchange for cigarettes. And recently jail officials tapped him to paint a mural, a No. 7 train, in a room where visitors are checked in.

He plans on a triumphant return and hopes to capitalize on all the press and buzz and do some commercial work. We look forward to KIKO getting out and making money on legit graffiti, in part due to his street cred, and ironically, in part to the graffiti panic-stricken councilman’s overly zealous campaign that has now given this kid one of the biggest ‘tags’ of his life: a front cover story. Graffiti: 4, Vallone: 0. Win-win.