Bio

Tommy has been tattooing predominantly in the New York area since 1990.  He paid his dues working in street shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  In 1998, he opened Mean St. Tattoo in the bustle of the dirty, mean streets of New York’s Lower East Side.  Since then, he has re-located to College Point, Queens with his friends.  Tommy has since gone international, opening a fantastic new Mean St. Tattoo in Bermuda with Josh Simmons.  Between traveling back and forth from Bermuda and Queens, Tommy spends his little time left over being a devoted husband and loving father.

A long time ago, he was taught, “be good to tattooing and tattooing will be good to you.”  In other words, give 100% every time and put the same effort into a butterfly tattoo as you would a back piece!  “There have been so many people who have influenced me in my days…Neil Grant way back in the apprentice days and Joel from Tattoo 46.  I have been blessed with knowing an array of colorful personalities in the tattoo industry.  The guy who I look up to in a big way is Sean Vasquez; the guy’s got class and style.  I have the pleasure to work with so many, different tattoo artists and I have learned something from every one of them.”

“So many tattooists and so many crazy stories…I guess the goal is to try and get a good story every day…And hope by the time you get old, you can put a great book together!  Every artist should pray to be as lucky as I have been, to know even a fraction of the loyal, fascinating people I have been privileged to swap stories with and tattoo.  They have been my sole inspiration to spend countless hours in a tattoo studio and they make me feel so honored to be a part of this industry. Tommy