For two years, the prolific HYSU graffiti crew spray-painted its way around the South Bay, leaving its acronym, which stands for “Have You Seen Us?”

This week, San Jose police emphatically answered that yes, they had.

Employing their own nickname for the five-month operation, “FNF” — for the graffiti penal code 594 — police arrested four tagging suspects. Investigators say the four, including the apparent leader, nicknamed “Romanse,” make up the heart of the brazen taggers’ gang.

Prosecutors are expected to add gang enhancements to the formal charges.

Arrested were John “Duel8” Arquero, 21, Jordan “Saeto” Burgeson, 18, Sesar “Romanse” Diaz, 32, and Manuel “YQUE” Villagran, 18.

Three of the men were arraigned Thursday, and Diaz is expected to be arraigned Friday.

Police may be looking for four other taggers, known as “Horid,” “Insum,” “Grief” and “Dert.”

The arrests were announced in a news conference Thursday at the San Jose Police Department.

“It’s pretty clear that, yes, we have diminished resources and, yes, we’ve had budget cuts, but we will do what it takes to go after people who are creating these quality of life and nuisance issues,” said Assistant Police Chief Rikki Goede. “You see the message being sent to the tagging crews out there that not only will you be investigated, but you will be charged with gang enhancements. We will come after you.”

City ﻿Council members Xavier Campos and Rose Herrera stood by in support.

Like many big cities, graffiti has been a persistent problem in San Jose. The city spends tens of thousands of dollars a year to clean up the tags that collect on Highway 280 overpasses and sound walls along Highway 87.

For example, there were 3,294 acts of vandalism reported last year and 2,785 this year so far in the city — a vast majority of them graffiti.

Police have been relatively aggressive here about going after taggers. There is a long-standing two-officer unit that focuses on taggers and robust and growing anti-graffiti efforts by city officials.

But HYSU and other crews have been undeterred. Armed with backpacks filled with spray paint cans, gloves and sketchbooks of their practice drawings, this crew, police said, had spent the last half-year spray-painting graffiti at an alarming rate that added up to more than 60 tags totaling $50,000 in damage.

The graffiti, photos of which were posted on sites such as Flickr, usually consists of the name and small tag that shows the person is affiliated with HYSU.

According to court documents, Diaz, the alleged head of the crew, typically spray-painted a heart with horns.

The crew posted a YouTube video showing one of the taggers spray-painting a wall and later cursing in delight at the sight of a patrolling police car.

Sgt. Kenneth Davis spearheaded the operation, identifying the crew by attaching suspects to specific graffiti tags. The arrests were made after serving search warrants. Davis said that some suspects made admissions.

Police said that if anyone sees any graffiti, they can upload the photos into the department’s website at www.sjpd.org/_forms/graffitifaq.asp.

Contact Sean Webby at 408-920-5003. Follow him at twitter.com/seanwebby.