Thom DeVita

Years Active:

1961 until 1997

From 1961 until 1997 Tattooing was illegal in New York City. One of the handful of underground tattoo artists in New York City was Thom DeVita who ran a shop in a non descript tenement at 326 East 4th Street between Avenues C and D throughout the 70’s and 80’s. In those years the neighborhood referred to as Alphabet City, was so rough, DeVita would only tattoo from the early morning hours until about three in the afternoon. He found those hours to be when his clientele were at their best behavior and therefor less of a danger to deal with, as well as the neighborhood itself being safer for his clients who traveled into unknown and notorious territory from other parts of the city to see him.

DeVita Studio

Sadly Thom died in May of 2018 at the age of 85. Thom DeVita has been heralded as one of the great tattoo artists of his generation, and as an innovator and bold stylist among his peers.

Over his long career Thom DeVita was also responsible for inking thousands of gang members from all over the five boroughs of New York City, gang members from every corner of the City sought him out to mark themselves with a club name or street number. Youth gangs, biker gangs and Chinese tongs, all came to see DeVita to permanently show their loyalty to their crew.

R.I.P. Thom DeVita 1932-2018