Jan. 12, 2021 By Michael Dorgan
Satanic graffiti was spray-painted across a wall outside a Sunnyside business overnight Friday.
The offensive graffiti was scrawled across the side wall of Bill’s Wines & Liquors, located at 42-26, 43rd Ave., sometime between 8 p.m. Friday and noon on Saturday, according to police.
The graffiti consisted of a black and yellow tag on the left-hand side of the wall and black, satanic-themed writing on the right-hand side. The satanic writing has since been covered over with more tagging – which looks similar to the initial tag.
The satanic writing read: “We live in a world full of demons all of you pray to god!!! But the only one that can save us is Lucifer 666.”
The demonic-themed writing was accompanied by a satanic pentagon star— although it looked like a Star of David.
The store’s shutter door was also tagging although the timeline for that is unclear.
The alarming graffiti was then altered overnight Sunday.
The satanic writing was covered over with additional black and yellow tags Sunday night, according to neighboring business owner Nick Murphy.
Murphy, who owns Bar 43, which is located two doors away at 43-06 43rd St., said that the wall has been a hot spot for graffiti since the city suspended its graffiti-removal program in March due to budget constraints.
The program, which had an annual budget of $3 million, allowed residents and business owners to make a 311 complaint about graffiti–and the city would arrange for its free removal.
“The wall was getting painted over so much [at the time] that it seemed to deter people from tagging and spray-painting it,” Murphy said.
Murphy thinks that hiring a professional artist to paint a Queens-themed mural on the wall might be a long-term solution to the problem.
“It would be more appealing to the eye and I think they [vandals] would have more respect for the graffiti artist to not deface their art,” Murphy said.
“I would be happy to help raise money and contribute to such an endeavor.”