Bus Taggers Turn Violent to Defend Rolling Turf

Bus lines are becoming the battleground for a new generation of violent taggers called tag-bangers. Unlike their predecessors, who mainly scribbled graffiti, today’s tag-bangers are also involved in the mayhem associated with traditional street gangs.

With names such as NBT, or Nothing But Trouble, and WDC, or We Don’t Care, crews of tag-bangers have declared the bus lines their territory and defend them passionately, said police investigator Roy Romero, the RTD’s expert on taggers.

In November, 13-year-old Khye Johnson was slain by a stray bullet at a bus stop near Normandie Avenue and Rosecrans Boulevard that was fired by tag-bangers who were shooting at rival crew members, Romero said. Three juveniles who were arrested on murder charges in connection with the shooting remain in custody and are awaiting arraignment in juvenile court, police said. No date has been set.

Also in November, a tag-banger fired on the leader of a rival crew at a bus stop in Silver Lake. The 17-year-old attacker then shot at RTD Police who were in the area and was wounded when one of the officers fired back. The gunman had been riding buses in search of his victim, Romero said.

Romero estimated about 10% of the 10,000 to 12,000 taggers in Central Los Angeles are tag-bangers, and said the numbers are likely to grow. “It’s something law enforcement agencies have to start paying more attention to,” he said.

Tagging is the most costly crime facing the financially strapped RTD. The cost of cleaning graffiti has totaled about $50 million since 1988--more than twice the agency’s current $20-million budget shortfall, RTD Controller-Treasurer Tom Rubin said.

Some buses are so marked up that it is impossible to see through windows. And taggers have gone so far as to immobilize buses by pulling the emergency stop levers and swarming the vehicles, police said. One such incident occurred last year in El Sereno, when officers caught 21 youths defacing a bus.

Toomer, the self-described leader of a crew called Total Chaos, said taggers are thrill-seekers who enjoy the challenge of trying to deface every bus on a line. “We can kill an entire line in six to eight hours,” said the 18-year-old high school dropout. “It’s all about the rush. It’s a real high.”