In 1999, two Miamians emblematized the clash between graffiti artists and a city that wanted them behind bars. Crook and Crome (whom the media didn’t initially know were different people) were notorious for tagging throughout the city. Perhaps most infamous was their tag on a large visible wall near I-95 on NW 24th street in Wynwood. Soon thereafter, police tracked them down at their apartment, found Crook at home, and arrested him. In an attempt to make an example of him, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office asked for a $1 million bond. The judge refused and set it at $50,000 instead. The case was eventually dropped when it was revealed the police had searched the apartment without a warrant.
Twenty years later, a mural on NW 24th Street in Wynwood would not only be legal but also welcome, though you’d have to pay Crook and Crome big money to paint it for you. Most visitors wandering around the neighborhood and posing for photos in front of the neighborhood’s stunning graffiti have no idea who created the pieces or how street art became so popular. That stands to change when the Museum of Graffiti opens in Wynwood December 5.
Read the full story at Miami New Times.
Photo by Robert Browning, via Miami New Times
