First-Of-Its-Kind Injunction Filed Against Prolific L.A. Tagging Crew

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The Los Angeles City Attorney's office Wednesday stated it has filed a first-of-its-kind permanent injunction against an L.A. tagging crew. Ten adult members of the organization known as Metro Transit Assassins were targeted in the filing, according to a statement from the office. Besides limiting the crew's behavior, the filing seeks $3.7 million in damages.

The "nuisance abatement" action is "similar to a civil gang injunction" and "is based on the graffiti crew's costly vandalism, violence, and narcotics trafficking activities," alleges the City Attorney's office.

Unlike gang injunctions, however, there is no defined "turf" in this filing because the MTA, as its name might imply, gets around. Like a gang injunction, the filing, if approved, would prohibit members from associating with each other and bar them from possessing spray cans or weapons. It would impose $250,000 in civil penalties.

Evidence for the filing includes graffiti photographed on the Los Angeles River's concrete banks, on highway signs, freeway sound walls, billboards, bridges, buses, passenger trains and several buildings, according to the City Attorney's office.

A hearing on the matter was set for Aug. 31.