Tattoo Cupid (Amor)

Tattoo Cupid

Tattoo Cupid

* Cupid, the Roman god of love also known by his Latin name Amor

Tattoo Bible: Book One

Tattoo Joker

Joker with 5 cards!What does this mean I think no need to explain.

E.P. NEWS >>>>

>>>>> Postcard from Mong Kok !!


Stay fresh !!

Peony

On tuesday Sanna got some more color in the backpiece.
About 4 hours worth.
Next session is in March.

Flowers and leaves

A closer look

Boring ass info post... but please read it anyway!

Here's a little late friday night info for you, since i'm stuck at work anyway:

Eckel will be in Germany from the 21st till the 29th of January.
And he will be working at the Brighton Tattoo Convention on January 30th and 31st.
So if you wanted to come by and talk to him at the shop, please wait until the 2nd of February where he'll be at the shop most of the day, doing just that.

Our work schedules are pretty random these days, so we advice you not to drop by without emailing us first, cause we might not be here.
Also, between January 29th and February 8th we won't be answering mails or taking any consultations.*
During that time Allan will be working, but the shop will be closed for everyone except the people getting tattooed.
So, if you have something urgent to discuss, please do so before January 29th.

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend!

*Eckel's consultation day on the 2nd is obviously an exception.

A not so fun update

For personal reasons, we've been forced to cancel our trip to the Milan Tattoo Convention in February.
Allan hadn't booked any clients for the show, but we still sincerely apologize to anyone who was hoping to get tattooed by him during the convention.
We hope to be back at our usual spot next to Mr. Dettmer next year!

The next convention Uncle Allan is attending will be Ink n Iron in Long Beach, California in June.

Iosif Ordzhonikidze not dead!

Iosif Ordzhonikidze

In the years of 2000 and 2002 Iosif Ordzhonikidze who was the deputy mayor of Moscow, survived two attempted murders. But that's not all, according to some data it was in an attempt to murder city participated Deputy Umar Dzhabrailov. Umar was the same Chechen businessman who co-owned the Radisson Hotel SAS Slavyanskaya, along with American Paul Tatum.

Umar Dzhabrailov


Attempted first

December 19, 2000 was in the center of Moscow. Kalashnikov automatic rifles were fired at the Nissan car owned by Iosif Ordzhonikidze. Driver Ivan Petrin was killed, and passenger Iosif was injured.

The killers dropped their guns, and perforated the car. Found in the car were more than 30 bullet holes, most at the windshield and a few bullets stuck in the back door. A minute later the passenger, staggered out of the Nissan and wandered down to the nearest store. These were the "Products in Leontiefskiy".

T he shots no one heard, was music. A Caucasian man about fifty years who was holding his stomach, threw open the door:

- Im wounded and the driver was killed. Girls, call the ambulance!


Scheme






Driver Ivan Petrin




Video
(in russian)


Second attempt

June 20, 2002 on the Rublevskoe highway, Ordzhonikidze's Volvo was stopped by a BMW-525 with false militia plates. From the BMW ran out three masked men and opened fire on the Volvo. From the Volvo the bodyguard ran out and returned fire. Resulting in one of the attackers being wounded. The bodyguard and a passenger of taxi Gazel were also wounded. And because the Volvo was armored Ordzhonikidze was not injured.

Bodyguard Aleksandr Golikov








Scheme



After the shooting, the wounded killers loaded into the car and fled the scene. Later close to where the shooting took place, the burned BMW with guns and corpse of a wounded holdup were found. It was Salavat Dzhabrailov, brother of Umar Dzhabrailov.




Video - 1

Video - 2

In the second video it s an interview of Ordzhonikidze's bodyguard.


They say that all the attacks may be associated with the construction of a Road for Formula - 1 in Moscow y Moscow International Business Center Moscow - City who were in charge of Ordzhonikidze.

And here a video interview with Umar Dzhabrailov. He said that the attempted murder on Ordzhonikidze is staged. Someone killed his brother and threw the body of the crime scene so everyone would think he ordered killing.



As it turned out in the attempted murder on Joseph Ordzhonikidze not only Salavat the brother of Umar Dzhabrailov, but also his cousin Alikhan were involved. He was declared an international arrest warrant and later found in Poland as a refugee under the assumed name Boris. Polish police found and detained Alihan.

Detention video of Alihan Dzhabrailov in Warsaw


Detainee Alihan Dzhabrailov


For reference you can listen to a telephone interview with Umar Dzhabrailov about the attack on Joseph Ordzhonikidze where he says he has no brother with name of Alihan, only Salavat.
Telephone interview with Umar Dzhabrailov

Flower Tattoo

Flower Tattoo

Flower Tattoo (in color)
Tattoo Bible: Book One 

Cy Wilson's Exhibition - Friday, January the 22nd

Thanks heaps!

As you all know we've been a little preoccupied with the new shop lately.
And we still are.
We've been at the same spot for about 9 years, so moving is a big deal, even bigger than if we were moving to a new apartment, i think.
It's gonna be the beginning of a new era for us, with new possibilities and new projects and... shit like that, you know what i mean!
So with all that going on, it's easy to forget to blog about other stuff.
Like what it's all about, which is art.
Basically.
So with that in mind i thought i'd post a couple of new tattoos.
Both tattoos are on the same client, Kane from Australia.
He got tattooed two days in a row, one day by Eckel and one day by Allan, and sat like a trooper for both sessions.
What a guy!

Day one; Eckel

Day two; Uncle Allan

Thanks for coming all the way to Copenhagen to get tattooed, and for getting fun pieces too, we hope to see you again some day, maybe even in Australia!

Paul Tatum

Paul Edward Tatum (1955-1996)


By David Amoruso

The first time the Western world became familiar or in touch with the crime entangled Russian business scene was when American businessman Paul Tatum was murdered by unknown assailants reputedly over a business dispute. The murder sent shockwaves through the business community and had American congressmen screaming for justice after a few months it seemed like all was forgotten, Tatum as well as the corrupt Russian business scene. Maybe forgotten but hardly out of mind.

Paul Tatum was born in 1955 in Edmond, Oklahoma. He graduated from Edmond Memorial High School. In High School Tatum already showed an enormous drive to succeed and it became clear to his fellow students and his teachers that Tatum would excel at whatever he pursued. After dropping out of college Tatum began hopping from one business deal to another doing whatever, he eventually ended up doing fundraisers for the Republican Party. Tatum first came to Russia in 1985 at the age of 29 when he was with an American trade delegation. Tatum immediately saw the potential of the Russian market and began planning his path to Russian success. In 1987 after 2 years of planning and preperation Tatum was ready to conquer Russian business, Tatum set up a business center for foreign firms in Moscow a first for the communist city. Not long after he and several other American businessmen founded Americom International Corporation. Two important associates in Americom were H.R. "Bob" Haldeman and Bernie Rome two former members of President Nixon's chief of Staff, Tatum came into contact with them while he was working as a fundraiser for the Republican Party. These 2 men helped Tatum get an 'in' with all the important people in Russia and enabled him to set up and expand his business without too much dificulties.

Paul Tatum and Mihail Gorbachov


By 1990 Tatum's big break came. The break came when Tatum's company RedAmer Partnership joined up with Radisson Hotel Corporation and signed a contract with Goskom Intourist and later the Moscow City Government that agreed to construct an American hotel combined with a business center that would go by the name Intourist Redamer Hotel and Business Center (later changed to Radisson - Slavyanskaya Hotel). A year later in the June of 1991 the Hotel opened it's doors. At the numerous parties at the hotel and business center Tatum mingled with powerful figures from Russian business, politics and eventually ,and inevitably, the Russian underworld.

The Moscow Underworld is a maze filled with a different Organized Crime group or gang on every corner. In the mid 1990s the Russian interior ministry did research on the amount of gangs in Moscow and came up with around 200 organizations, about 20 of those had branched out to other parts of the world. The Moscow underworld is made up `out` of groups from several different ethnic backgrounds. The main groups are Slavic (Russian), Georgian, Armenian and Chechen. With so many groups in Moscow Moscow business is inevitably tangled up with Organized Crime and vice versa. Organized Crime is said to control around 75% of all private businesses in Russia. With Russian criminals threatening legit business and demanding pay offs and ineffective Russian law enforcement it is not surprising then that the demand for private security sky rocketed seeing to it that across Russia private security businesses stepped into the forground. In 7 years 25.000 Russian security firms were established employing between half a million to a million workers. These workers are mainly ex Spetznaz commando's or war veterans who are desperately seeking money and would rather stay legit then go into crime. The funny and dangerous thing about these security firms is however that most of them are controlled by Organized Crime groups. With this concrete basis Organized Crime has a lockdown on the entire legit business world in Russia. It was this shady world that Paul Tatum was slowly becoming part of.

Tatum's Hotel was doing good business and things went great, a little inconvienant for business was the August 1991 Russian Coup but after the frenzy died down Tatum emerged even more powerful. It is rumored that he was the one responsible for a direct phoneline between the White House and Gorbachov's camp. After the coup things settled down again and Tatum went back to business. A business that was ever changing. In 1992 Goskom Intourist was liquidated and the Moscow City Government became a new partner in the deal. No big deal for Tatum at first, his company still owned 80% of the 50% (50% that belonged to the American partners in the deal, the other 50% belonged to the Russian companies and Moscow City Government) of the property. But with the Moscow City Government came a partner that held a lot of power, more than any of the other partners in the deal. The Moscow City Government had connections throughout the Russian government and it's system, it could pressure anyone to give in to their demands and their demands would become clear very fast.

Paul Tatum and The Moscow City Government had a quiet working relationship for about 2 years after that it started to rumble. In January of 1995 problems arose with the General Director of the American Partnership. The American hadn't received his Russian visa and wasn't going to receive one either. The loss of the General Director was a big blow for Tatum because now that position would be taken over by someone from the Russian partnership. Umar Dzhabrailov was named General Director. Dzhabrailov was a Chechen who had heavy connections within the Moscow City Government and used those connections to get into the position of General Director. But those weren't the only connections Umar Dzhabrailov had, several law enforcement agencies including the F.B.I. and Interpol list Dzhabrailov as a member of Chechen Organized Crime. A report in the Russian press went even further calling Dzhabrailov a "known contract killer and one of a handful of Chechen mafia bosses operating in Moscow." Dzhabrailov doesn't deny his ties to Organized Crime but says they are "only social". With Dzhabrailov as General Director things made a turn for the worse for Paul Tatum.

Paul Tatum didn't realize it that fast but the Russian partnership had made ousting him it`s priority....by any means possible. While Tatum went about his business the Russian side showed it's teeth. On St Valentine's Day 1995 one of Tatum's bodyguards was found beaten and stabbed in the chest with a pen knife. The bodyguard also had a message from his attackers: "Tell Paul it's high time he left for home." Most businessmen would've gotten the message and would've left town immediately, but not Paul Tatum. Tatum had grown a fondness for the Moscow nightlife, the clubs, the women. Tatum had enough money and liked to spend it and some even say he started acting like a mobster throwing around cash and surrounding himself with gorgeous women. Meanwhile the cold war for control of the Hotel and business center continued. Tatum had upped his bodyguards and after the attack on his bodyguard took extra security measures he now always had his bodyguards guard empty rooms so no one could plant bombs in them. He also decided to fight Dzhabrailov in the media he called him a "genuine Mafioso" who "has threatened he can kill me at any time" The fight had turned ugly and was now spilling from the boardrooms onto the public scene.

After months of warring between the Tatum and Dzhabrailov in February 1996 it looked like there would be a solution to Tatum's problems. The solution was to bribe Dzhabrailov and the Moscow City Government. If Tatum would pay the sum of $1 millions dollars to a certain person all his troubles would end. $500.000 dollars would go to the Moscow City Government and the other $500.000 dollars would go to Dzhabrailov so that he would resign or step down as General Director. But instead of paying Tatum decided to take the matter to court. Tatum sued the Russian partners for $35 million dollars additional payments and payment of damages. In the media Tatum remained defiant as ever saying "They will have to shoot me to get rid of me" Things were heating up and Tatum was bracing himself for the hit. He now had said goodbye to the fast nightlife of Moscow preferring to stay in his Hotel in suites 850 and 852. Tatum was now told repeatedly by U.S. embassy oficials to leave Russia, Tatum replied in U.S.A. Today with: "I feel like I'm fighting a one-man battle." "They'd rather pay than stand up and fight." On September 30, 1996 Tatum went even further when he published a full page ad in a Moscow paper directed to Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov:

"Yuri M. Luzhkov: I must tell you that not one person here in Russia or abroad is fooled. All know of the dangerous activities. I implore you to show the world your resolve and commitment to become the catalyst to solve these grave problems-peacefully, efficiently, with fairness and justice for the investor and for the legal agreements under which their original activities were created. The world now awaits this signal. This is your choice and your crossroads. Where do you stand, Yuri M. Luzhkov? In the shadows or the bright sunlight?"

It would be Tatum's last defiant gesture.

On November 3rd, 1996 around 5.00 PM Paul Tatum left his Hotel and headed towards the Kievskaya metro station, where he had arranged to meet someone. When Tatum arrived there with his bodyguards the person he was supposed to meet wasn't there, instead a man walked up towards Tatum and shot him 11 times from 5 meters distance with an AK-47. Tatum's bodyguards did nothing to protect there boss, the killer dropped his weapon and fled the scene unharmed. Tatum's bodyguards rushed their wounded boss to the hospital but to no avail Paul Tatum died shortly after his arrival. Shortly after the news of Tatum's death Dzahrailov and the Moscow City Government took undisputed control of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel and businesscenter. He denied any role in the Tatum murder but did say: "What goes around, comes around". Dzahrailov also saw to it that a planned memorial service at the hotel was nixed as well as Tatum's wishes to be buried at the prestigious Novodevichy Cemetery. Tatum was eventually cremated and interred in the Moscow Novodevitsji cemetary. "Paul never learned it was their country," said Tatum's Americom associate Bernie Rome. "He was like a bull in a china shop. He didn't understand you have to play by Russian rules. It's all very sad."

Tatum's murder shows how corrupt Russian business had become. Russian business is controlled by Organized Crime groups and powerfull businessmen who use strong arm tactics and criminal ways to get deals done. With Russian law enforcement and the Russian courts inefective Russian business has absorbed Mafia tactics to get it's demands done. It will be interesting to see how and if Russian business will ever de-criminalize and return to normal business procedures such as sueing each other over a business dispute instead of putting out a murder contract.



It is interesting that the relatives not take the body to the United States, and Paul was interred in Kuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow.



On the monument orthodox cross but I think that Paul was a catholic, because it american.Orthodox cross here possibly mean that he was buried in ortodox country with ortodox traditions.


I think he talking about Paul Tatum


Gangstersinc.tripod.com

Score!

Our friendly neighbors at WAS were nice enough to donate a sofa from their current exhibition, Domestic Mashup, to our new shop.
Too bad we can't steal their wallpaper too!
Free stuff is awesome, and now we have one less piece of furniture to buy for the new shop.
Thanks guys!

This little orange wonder will be Big Red's new sidekick

Color selections are going pretty well, but it's hard.. it's like there are either too many colors to choose from, or not quite enough... *sigh*

Tribal Tattoo - Bad Boy

Tribal Tattoo Bad Boy - on Hand

Tribal Tattoo Bad Boy - on Hand