Pin It

Up Against the Wall

Tag, you're hit -- if you ran with Robert �Skeme� Iron.

A A A Comments By Justin Berton Thursday, Sep 7 2000

In the year since Iron's arrest, Gavito hasn't witnessed so much as a bubble-gum wrapper with "Skeme" written on it. Better yet, for six months he didn't see a single CWD tag; it was as though the crew had been erased. Over the last few months, a few CWD tags have appeared, mostly along the Boulder Turnpike. Yet the new crew's scribblings are absent any personal tags, a real rarity. Without personal tags, the crew letters stand alone like a gang turf warning.

But although CWD tags are few and far between, graffiti is everywhere. Freight trains that park briefly behind Denver's Union Station and then shuttle cross-country like billboards have become the most revered canvases. "Kids make goals to do 300 to 400 freights a year," Marz says. "That's ridiculous."

David Rehor

The writing's on the fall for many of Denver's tag teams.

More About

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Jher, who now makes a legitimate living as a tattoo artist but still marks the occasional freight, has noticed a plunge not only in the quality of the work, but in working standards. "They don't know how to paint a train without blowing up the spot," Jher says, noting that kids leave behind cans, in the process providing clues for security guards.

Last year the city cleaned up more than 1,400,000 square feet of graffiti; this year's goal is 1,500,000 square feet. But despite the city's increased efforts, Gavito knows he won't be out of work anytime soon. "Graffiti is like dope," he says. "It will always be here, it will always be a problem. We can only push it underground."

By the time Robert Iron got caught, he'd done at least $30,000 worth of damage. Iron's victims, primarily business owners along Federal and Broadway, were to be called as witnesses at a trial this summer, but their testimony was never needed.

Iron pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and was sentenced to thirteen days in jail -- seven of them suspended. He served his week and was then released. (Iron initially agreed to be interviewed at length but failed to show up for an interview. In a brief conversation, he said he no longer tags and has "learned from my mistakes." He did not respond to subsequent correspondence.)

"He was one of the biggest boils on our butts in the summer of 1999," Gavito recalls. "Now it's up to him. He'll either grow up and get out of it...or he won't."