Around this time of year, the best of and worst of lists tend to make their appearance. I’m a fan of those lists, be they music related, film related, whatever. While a tattoo best/worst of list for 2008 would be interesting, I’ve decided to up the ante and instead bring you my pick for what arguably amounts to the worst business strategy in the history of tattoo artistry.
Thirty-two-year-old Lee Black, resident of the London, England borough of Enfield pleaded guilty this past September to charges of arson and manslaughter. Black broke into a tattoo parlor he had been negotiating to buy in August of 2007, doused the premises with gas and started it on fire. The fire quickly got out of control (as fires started with gas tend to do), exploding out of the front of the shop and consuming the first two floors of the three-storey building. The end results were grim: two women and a man were taken to hospital suffering from severe burns, while a fourth man died of smoke inhalation.
The kicker in all this mess is that Black apparently started the fire as a way to lower the asking price for the tattoo shop. Figuring that some small fire damage would work in his favor during negotiations, the idiot was even recorded by surveillance cameras three days prior to the fire at a nearby gas station, buying 18 liters of gas. Dude! You seriously thought you’d start a small fire with 18 liters of gas? Are you fucking kidding me?
The fire also destroyed the neighboring Nightingale Community Hospice Trust , which provides therapy and care for cancer patients. NCHT was only able to reopen its doors this past November 20th.
As of November, Black has been convicted of murder, grievous bodily harm and arson. He’s to be sentenced on December 18th, but so far there has been no further word of the prison term.
Unreal.