I’ve never met him, but I imagine Fred Radtke, the “Grey Ghost”, as an ornery old asshole who hates everything from puppies to sunshine. The one thing that brings him joy? Painting over graffiti and illegally posted flyers with ugly grey paint, where ever it may be.
52 year-old Radtke is a former Marine, and founder of the nonprofit Operation Clean Sweep in 1997 to fight graffiti. He has made it his full time job to hunt and kill all graffiti around the New Orleans area and depends on funds from donations and grants including including several $10,000 grants from the city of New Orleans and a $32,000 grant over a four-year period from Freeport-McMoRan. He works as a freelancer for the New Orleans Police Department as is often called upon by them when new graffiti is spotted as they claim to have a lack of manpower and time.

Enter Michael Dingler aka ReX, also a former Marine and a New Orleans native, and founder of NoLa Rising, a campaign that encourages people to paint and post colorful signs of hope throughout New Orleans. Michael Dingler is Radkte’s Worst Enemy. In January, Dingler was cited (with Radkte’s tipoff to the NOPD) for more than 1,100 counts of unlawfully posting signs such as “Smile” and “Welcome Back” on telephone poles that could cost him more than $50,000 in fines.

“When I asked Officer Joia if he was going to file the same charges against Fred [Radtke] under the graffiti statutes, he said he was unaware of what I was talking about,” said Dingler. “Here’s a guy who is destroying city property, who has become what he said he is fighting against. And yet I’m the one facing all these charges? It’s selective enforcement of the law.”
Radtke dismissed Dingler’s accusations, called him a “loser,” a “phony” and the “biggest pain in the ass I ever met.”

He said Dingler’s so-called “messages of hope” are “vertical trash” that promote other forms of vandalism.
“It’s real simple: people either want to abide by the law or not,” Radtke said.

Dingler’s court date was March 18th. He was building his own case by documenting all of Radtke’s work, belittling his charges of 1,100 counts of vandalism. He intended to present his evidence to the police, just as Radtke did and file charges tit for tat. Anyone know what the outcome was? [Update: Read the comment ReX left]

Naturally, people have begun spraying anti-Radtke stencils in the grey areas among other things all over NoLa. The Grey Ghost simply creates a canvas for more graffiti. He is a haunting nuisance that has become part of the culture. Annoying, yes, but he forces writers to up the ante. And these shirts have sprung up.

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UPDATE: Read this blog post. Apparently Mr. Radtke lost his temper at a coffee shop and verbally assaulted the lady behind the counter when she told him he couldn’t paint out some graffiti on the shop.  Cops be lookin’ for him in the area. Oooooooo!