Tattos and City Gangs

Joined
Aug 29, 2001
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What kind of tattos names and pattens are commonly gang related?
If not, how can you tell?
 
Spiderwebs on the elbows used to be the mark of someone who had taken a life in biker and prison gangs. Later skinheads adopted it with the same meaning. Now its just fasion.

Its good to be able to distinguish professional tattoo-gun work from prison needle-work. If you see an older guy with older unprofessional looking spiderwebs on his elbows, that might be the case.

Skinhead tattoos are pretty obvious; swastikas, runes, etc. A popular design is a crucified skinhead wearing suspenders and dr. martens. Tattoos are usually the last thing you notice different about a skin.

I think paladin has a book out about identifying gang tattoos. The thing is they change all the time, but tattoos are permanent. Lazer surgery to remove tattoos is still crude, so the scars are obvious. Cover-up tattoos are usually obvious too.
 
Okay, let me state up front that I know absolutely nothing about gangs. I do know a little about tatoos, however.

For a couple of years I made my living as a freelance writer. One article I worked on was on the significance of tatooing in modern culture. In the course of my research I spent too many evenings in the basements of Harley shops with men named Pig :p. I also spent a good bit of time in the chair -- some artists are, with good reason, skeptical of writers . . . they won't talk to you unless you're willing to get some ink under your skin. I saw a lot of tatoos. I talked to a lot of people, especially people who won't chat unless they see you have ink, too. These are just my observations.

Prison and gang tattooing tends to be homemade. They use anything from hairdryer motors to tape recorder motors to drive the needle. The inks tend to be cigarette ash, ball point pen ink, shoe polish, or any sufficiently dark, soluble substance.

Sometimes the tatoos are done with a sewing needle and ink-coated thread. These are readily identifiable by their perforated "stitched" appearance.

Prison and gang tatoos tend to be single-color, but not the dark black of professional line work or tribal tatoos. They generally appear blueish with thick lines and very little detail. Frequently they depict religious symbols (most often Latino gangs), oriental caligraphy (chinese tongs or asian gangs), indeciperable dots and dashes (I've seen them but don't know what they mean; generally on Latinos) and just plain scary stuff -- skulls, knives, bad porn, etc. The real giveaway is the blue color of the ink, the bad artwork and the thick lines with no shading or artistic touches. There's also some scarring involved, depending on the skill of the "artist."

African americans don't tatoo well due to the darkness of the skin. But a good tattoo on black skin (like a good tatoo on any skin) is not, in my opinion, a gang symbol. They've found a pro who can make a good tatoo work for them. The black gangs, as far as I can tell, go in for scarification or branding. Both leave raised welts and are pretty obvious.

For further info, check out Clinton Sanders' "Cusomizing the Body, the Art and Culture of Tatooing."

Chad
 
Some common ones are:

EME,MM,13: Mexican Mafia

Nancy Flores, Nuestra, NF: Nuestra Familia

NLR: Nazi Low Riders

Others are out there, these are prison gang type lettering for their members.

James, Northwind, and Chad gave other good info too.
 
Some Latin gangs have a teardrop under the eye.
Obviously, alot of biker clubs have their logo tattooed on them(you really don't want to know what the H.A. do when they catch non-members with their deathhead logo tattooed on them).

But please don't group prison ink in with the professional tattoo artists of today. There is no similarity. There are artists today doing some unbelievable work in clean sterile settings. You'd be surprised how many people are tattooed nowadays in places you can't see when dressed in business or work clothes.

Dave
 
I was going to add the same thing Dave. The tear drop is supposed to represent a killing.(the spider web on the elbow used to represent a racial killing as well). And you don't want to be caught with anything that even resembles the HA symbol on your body or bike if your not with them.
 
If you are caught with an Outlaws or Hells Angels tattoo they will remove it with a knife. It has also been done to people excommunicated who were not worth killing. This is fact and not folklore. It has been done.
 
This has the makings of another one of those "best knife for x" threads... "What's the best knife for cutting a tatoo off of a wannabe (or used-to be) HA member?" My vote would have to be for the ubiquitous Buck 110, every biker's best friend.

Those guys take copyright law VERY seriously! (yes, the HA name is an incorporated and trademarked/copyrighted entity, as is their logo)
 
Chuck Zito former President of NYC chapter just got locked up for refusing to take of his colors. (HA jacket). I have not heard the whole story yet just the trailer on the news. HA takes these things seriously.
 
Hi Kevin,
Actually Chuck is about to become the president of the new chapter they're starting in New Rochelle,NY. He was at Foxwood's, they asked him to take off his colors or leave, he declined to do both. He was arrested but I doubt they have anything to hold him on unless they find something outstanding.
Yes, they take their trademark very seriously. They sued Marvel Comics and won which is why their character is now called Dark Angel instead of the original hells angel. Even Sonny Barger had to get permission to use the name and picture of their colors on his autobiography. It's also the reason that Ives Lavigne's newest book, H.A. At War is not allowed to be sold in the U.S.
Dumb, they're not. In the early 90's when one of them got arrested for dealing at their building on 3rd St in NYC and the city tried to take the whole building, they turned their apts. into individually owned condos to avoid the problem in the future.
Hey, back to tattoos.

Dave
 
Dave, I figured the arrest was B.S. Everything will probably be dropped. I have met him a couple of times and he is a gentleman. Very polite. I hear he is a truely tough guy though.
 
The things I listed above I have seen alot of in my youth. We had Pagans and Fate's Assembly around here.

One of my Martial Arts Instructors was a Former, if you can be a "Former," Hessian from Southern California...reformed and beating a Bible.

You really don't want a 3rd degree black belt in TKD and TSD being a Former Hessian turned Christian, it hurts. :D

And he definitely had a 5th degree black belt in what Kelly Worden has referred to as, "Biker Ryu."

Just some agreements to be shared. World of difference between prison and professional ink. Not all people who are inked are scum, obviously, but it had to be said because so many think they are.

Spiderwebs in fact, did used to mean something, now I see punkass people in bars who "count spokes" when they piss someone off...sporting this stuff...

ITCOB=I Took Care Of Business. If you see that one on a Real Deal Biker, don't be a smartass and ask him what the Business was or how he Took Care Of IT. He might show you. Three words of advice if you see that one on a real Biker, "Give Wide Berth." Get out of his air and face space.

H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, when you see "88," you're usually dealing with a Nazibastard. It stands for Heil Hitler, or perhaps Martha Stewart. :D
 
Likewise 81 = HA = Hells Angels
Big Red Machine = Hells Angels
Crossed Pistons = Outlaws
AOA = Outlaws
 
Good info guys.
The H.A. started using Local 81 and Big Red Machine awhile ago for various reasons. The major reason was that they decided that nobody but them could wear anything that said H.A. They used to sell shirts that said support your local H.A. and everytime somebody wearing one of the shirts or having one of their stickers got in trouble, they got blamed.
BTW, just about every Angel chapter has a website. If you start with the NYC chapter at www.bigredmachine.com you can link to every other chapter. A word of advice please. If you sign their guestbook and leave a message, don't say anything good or bad about any other club. This is extremely frowned upon and don't ever think you're anonymous on the internet.
With that said, IMO, of all the clubs that have been mentioned here, none have the prestige and class of the H.A. While their lifestyle is not the one I chose for myself, I have a few friends who did, and I have to respect someone who gives 110% to live the way they choose.

Dave
 
This may be off topic, but I have a small tattoo on my neck that is the only thing keeping me from MEPS. Now, I could shell out money that I don't have to have it lasered off but I hope that can be avoided. Are their other ways to take care of this problem? So far, I'm thinking a tattoo place can ink over the whole deal in a birthmark colored ink./? Or as a last resort, I can get a friend that I trust, a bottle of Jim Beam, and a razor blade and have him do you know what.
 
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