Man Spray-Painted Swastika On Charging Bull In Racist Rampage: DA

NEW YORK CITY — A Colorado man faces a felony hate crime charge after prosecutors said he was behind a 2021 rampage of racist graffiti — including a swastika on the Wall Street Charging Bull statue — across Lower Manhattan.

An indictment filed Wednesday accuses James Ryan, 40, of drawing Nazi symbols and writing racial slurs on public buildings and landmarks, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“Hate has no place in New York City and these offensive and damaging actions will not be tolerated,” Bragg said in a statement.

The charges stem from December 2021, when Lower Manhattanites discovered hateful words and symbols scrawled in high-profile spaces.

A man first walked up to the gate of City Hall near Park Row and drew a swastika and an anti-Black slur on a pillar on Dec. 13 about 6:30 p.m., prosecutors said.

The same man spray-painted a large swastika and another an anti-Black slur outside a CVS Pharmacy in the Financial District the next day about 4 p.m., authorities said.

In the final graffiti, the man spray-painted a large swastika and letter on the Charging Bull statue about 10 p.m., prosecutors said.

Ryan, of Limon, Colorado, is accused of being the racist graffiti artist, according to the indictment.

He faces three counts of felony criminal mischief, a hate crime, as well as three counts of aggravated harassment.