The New Mexican Mafia Tattoos

The following tattoo patterns were found during 1987-88 in various Arizona State prison facilities where members of the New Mexican Mafia have been incarcerated.

 

The first pattern was confiscated by staff personnel at the Arizona State Prison Tucson facility. The second pattern was found in the Florence facility, 06-03-87, Central Unit during cell searches following the stabbing assault of suspected original Mexican Mafia member.

 

Since that time, numerous patters have been found and confiscated. Twelve have been found in the Florence SMU facility where the majority of the New Mexican Mafia members are housed.

 

Information received indicates that members are allowed to use their own creative individuality for the tattoo pattern, however all “Pachas” or patterns must have the skull, double “MM” and the flames around the circle. The double M. Must curve downward and cross at the bottom. This signifies that the member has crossed over from the original Mexican Mafia to the New Mexican Mafia, if he was a member of the former. The large flames are to lean counter-clockwise and be partially shaded. The small flames lean clockwise and are supposed to be completely shaded.

 

 

 

The rose is considered the highest honor a member can obtain. It signifies that the member has successfully completed an assault on his “enemies”.

 

New Mexican Mafia patch with rose in in the center meaning this inmate has killed an Old Mexican Mafia member.

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Russian Prison Tattoo

According to the book of Genesis, God placed a mark on the world’s first murderer before sending him into exile. The mark of Cain indelibly branded its bearer as a criminal and social outcast.

 

It is not known when tattooing first became a common practice in Russian prisons and Stalinist Gulags. Soviet researchers first discovered and studied this underground activity in the 1920s; photographs of prisoners from that period suggest an already elaborate and highly developed subculture. More than simple decoration, the images symbolically proclaim the wearer’s background and rank within the complex social system of the jailed.

 

The Russian prison population is one of the largest in the world. From the mid-1960’s to the 1980’s, thirty-five million people were incarcerated, and of those, twenty to thirty million were tattooed. The tattoos display inmates’ contempt for official justice and retribution– phrases and images directly mock the political system and the absence of any possibility for “reform” within the jails. “For a convict, prison is a crime college,” reads one typical statement. Convicted female gang members sometimes prefer the simple declaration, “People are wild animals.”

 

Barbed wire tattooed across the forehead signifies a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

 

 

 

The drawing above shows the spelling of a man’s name, Vasia, in Cyrillic characters. The symbols on each finger have specific coded meanings: “In life, only count on yourself,” is the meaning of the symbol on the first finger, and the three skulls on the third finger symbolize murders committed by the criminal.

 

Monasteries, cathedrals, castles, and fortresses are often tattooed on the chest, back, or hand. The number of spires or towers can represent the years a prisoner has been incarcerated, or number of times they have been imprisoned. The phrase, “The Church is the House of God,” often inscribed beneath a cathedral, has the metaphorical meaning, “Prison is the Home of the Thief.”

 

A spider or spider’s web symbolizes drug addiction.

 

Military insignia and epaulet tattoos are often used to signify criminal accomplishments or some other aspect of a prisoner’s history. Skulls generally designate murderers. The crest in the drawing above refers to the White Guard– troops who fought against the Red Army in the Russian Revolution– and can mean that a prisoner was a high ranking criminal or had some special status as a criminal before their incarceration. The epaulet in the drawing below indicates that a prisoner has done time in solitary confinement. Nazi imagery is very common. An SS insignia can indicate that a prisoner is respected for never having confessed to anything.

 

Images chosen by the prisoners borrow from popular art and the rich tradition of Russian icon painting. Churches, kittens, images of saints or the Madonna and Christ, portraits of Russian political leaders and Soviet architecture, death’s heads and barbed wire are transmuted into a clandestine social and political language that can be decoded by fellow inmates and by ex- cons outside of the prison walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cat tattoo represents a prisoner’s past life as a thief. A single cat signifies that the criminal acted alone, while several cats together show that the criminal was part of a gang. The head of a tomcat is considered to bring good luck to a thief. It can also serve as a warning not to mess with the wearer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The writing on this arm reads, “I don’t care about the Soviet laws–the only rules I follow are the ones I make up in my head. Many of the people sitting in here have no destiny, but I am not one of those.” Personal statements of this kind are common. The phrase “My mother taught me to steal in the industrial zones” is quite popular.

 

 

 

A cross can indicate bondage, subordination, or slavery. Some tattoos are given involuntarily, as warnings or punishment for transgressions–sex offenders, for example, are frequently branded with a dagger running across their shoulder blades and through their necks.

The tattoos are painfully applied with needles and electric shavers, using ink made from urine, soot, and shampoo. Infection from the procedure is frequent, and death not uncommon.

[source article]

 

 

Prison Gang Tattoos

Tattoos have long been used to identify people in many cultures. The gang culture of today is no different. Gangs members use tattoos for several reasons. First, gang members will frequently have numerous tattoos, particularly if they have spent time in prison. These tattoos may include one or more symbols that the gang has adopted as something unique to identify the gang and it’s members.

The tattoos can be as subtle as the numbers on a tombstone tattoo, which indicate how many years a prisoner has served. Or spider webs on the elbows or shoulders, which bespeak the imprisoned life. To outsiders, a simple ‘88’ tattooed on someone’s arm may seem innocent enough. But those in the know understand that H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and that HH is an acronym for Heil Hitler. Prisoners use all kinds of symbols, words, and numbers to show their affiliations to other convicts.

Second, tattoos are worn and used for intimidation. Many members, particularly if the gang has a propensity for violence, will have the gang name tattooed in large bold letters so that other persons or gang members will know what gang the person represents.

Wearing an unauthorized gang tattoo could be hazardous to a person’s health, particularly in prison. Prison gang inmates have been known to remove unauthorized tattoos on non-gang members by cutting the tattoo from the person’s flesh.

 

Tattoo recognition and interpretation is a valuable tool when dealing with state prison parolees. A convict’s ink will tell you three sweet pieces of info about him. Who he is, what he’s done and where he’s been.

Many times the convict will have his name or street name on him. I have even heard of having one’s CDC # put on. Also a loved ones name may help you ID him. What he’s done often relates to his crimes. For example if he carries a gun, a picture of the weapon maybe on him. If the gun is pictured from the side this means he carries a gun. If the weapon is pointed outward, this means he is a shooter. Where he’s been has to do with the joints he has called home. The ink in relation to the joints he’s been in will be landmarks. Landmarks such as walls, gun towers, cell doors or windows and bob wire. Remember to take your time and read the ink.

Joint ink starts out as one color. Blue. It may turn black or purple according to the sun and the skin pigment but it usually starts out blue. If you see other colors besides blue, or it’s variations, the tat probably is not a true joint tat.

There are two ways of giving a tat. Free hand, which most are, or machine. Free hands a no brainer. You get some ink, usually out of a pen, and you dip a needle, usually a straight pen, and you use the Polynesian method. That is a series of dots to form a picture or word. These tats are crude and sloppy and very noticeable.

The second method is the machine. A home made tat machine consists of a slot car motor, a hollowed out ball point pin, some guitar string, a 9 volt battery and the ink. The hollowed out pen is wired or taped to the motor facing away from it. The guitar string is wrapped around the arm of the motor and run through the pen so it sticks out about a 16th of an inch out the end. Hook up a flashlight battery and its tat time. When the battery is hooked up, the motor arm vibrates which moves the guitar string back and forth rapidly in and out of the end of the pen and as long as you keep dipping the end in the ink, you can create a tattoo. Machine ink jobs are more detailed because of the method but also because they are usually done with stencils. Getting caught giving a tat or getting one in the joint is a serious crono.

 

Tattoos and their Meaning

 

Clock faces without handsTombstones with numbers on themTombstones with numbers and RIPSpider or cob webs on elbows or shouldersEight ballsOne laughing face, one crying faceSWPPeckerwoodFeatherwoodViking themesGranite block walls100 % pureCell window with sun or bird showingFace of female cryingSURNorteanoPrison block wall with bricks falling outward

Doing timeThe years they were insideMourning the death of a friendDoing timeBehind the eight ball or bad luckPlay now, pay later or my happy life, my sad lifeSupreme white powerWhite pride ( males )White pride ( females )Common Caucasian tatTime in Old Folsom PrisonPure white or angloWaiting to get outHas someone on the outside waitingSouthernerNorthernerInside wanting to get out

 

 

Yakuza Criminal Tattoos

It is usual within the yakuza circuits to tattoo themselves. Usually it is their clan’s badges that they have all over their body. The origin of the yakuza tattoo comes from the Bakuto. They usually tattooed a black ring around the arm for each rime they committed. Finally it became a symbol of strength. It can take over 100 hours to do an entire back tatoo. The tattoo was to illustrate you were unwilling to accommodate yourself to society’s rules and norms. Now it is to illustrate your clans affiliations.

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Russian Criminal Tattoo

Russian criminal tattoos have a complex system of symbols which can be ‘read’ to give quite detailed information about the wearer. Not only do the symbols carry meaning but the area of the body on which they are placed may be meaningful too. The initiation tattoo of a new gang member is usually placed on the chest and may incorporate a rose. A rose on the chest is also used within the Russian Mafia.

Tattoos done in a Russian prison have a distinct blueish color and usually appear somewhat blurred because of the lack of instruments to draw fine lines. The ink is often created from burning the heel of a shoe and mixing the soot with urine.

In addition to voluntary tattooing, tattoos are used to stigmatise and punish individuals within the criminal society. ‘Grins’ may be placed on an individual who fails to pay debts in card games and often have very blatant sexual images, embarrassing the wearer.

The four suits

• Spades – the “suit of thieves”.
• Clubs – another “criminal” suit.
• Diamonds – the “chummy suit” (i.e. stoolpigeons and informers). This suit is usually forcibly applied.
• Hearts – a sexual symbol. It marks the wearer out as a “passive homosexual”/sex object within the prison.

Other symbols

• Crucifix- a cross worn on the chest signifies a “Prince of Thieves”, the highest possible rank. Or a scene of the crucified Christ, has no religious meaning but it’s the inmate saying he’s been oppressed and sentenced by the authorities just like Jesus. If the crucifix is topped by a crown then it means the wearer is a pakhan – a leader of a thieves family.

• ‘Grins’ – these are humorous tattoos usually incorporating a grinning face and are often accompanied by text. The butt of the grin/joke in will often be the prison authorities.

• Snakes – a snake around the neck/shoulders mean that the wearer feels that the Soviet/Communist party system still has a hold on them, still adversly affecting their lives.

• Tigers – signifies an ‘enforcer’, or a sign of an avenger, geared at times at guards and prison authority.

• Cats – the cat is associated with the characteristics needed by a thief (slyness). The most common thief tattoo. Normally tattooed as a pair on the upper chest.

• Skulls – these are usually worn by high ranking gang members, interpreted to mean a murderer.

• Eyes – Various meanings: if on the upper/middle torso they literally mean that the wearer is keeping their eyes open and it isn’t a derogatory/forced tattoo. If placed on lower backside that is to show that the prisoner is used for sexual gratification. If the eyes are tattooed in the lower groin/hip high area (thus creating a ‘face’ when his trousers are dropped – with the penis becoming the nose) someone with that tattoo is known as ‘humiliated’ or ‘a Downcast’.

• Barbed wire – Often the prison term in years is shown by the number of ‘barbs’ on the wire.

• Swastika/nazi symbols – are a sign of rebellion against Russian prison authority. Doesn’t literally mean that the wearer is a nazi sympathiser.

• Stars – stars commonly represent time served; each point indicates a year served in jail or if stars are tattooed on knees it means you bow to no authority.

• Double Sig runes – One who does not confess, also tattooed as sign of rebellion to authority, again not usually associated with the Nazi symbol.

• Churches – The number of dome towers (cupolas) indicates either number of prison terms or number of years of the sentence.

• Setting sun – this tattoo is usually accompanied by birds flying over the horizon. It represents freedom.

• Knight or Crusader – a knight in full armor indicates a sadist, an inmate accused of hooliganism, assault and battery. Also indicates prison ‘enforcers’ or tattooed for racist meanings.

• Genie – a Genie and a lamp indicate inmates serving time for drug-related crimes.

• Spider within a Web – Can indicate a drug addiction. It can also mean that the wearer is a thief. If the spider is shown moving upwards it means the wearer is still an active criminal, if the spider is moving downwards it means that the wearer is intending to leave the thief’s way of life.

• Dagger – sexual predator or, if the dagger is tattooed on the shoulders with blood dripping form the end of blade, it means you are a killer, a man to be feared or called upon when in need of an accomplice for a murder.

• Bells – Literally signifies that the wearer will serve his full given sentence, from “bell call to bell call”. He cannot get parole because he has been convicted of a very serious crime. Shows high ranking and will get respect in prison.

• Candle sticks – wearer is saying he can extinguish your light, beware.

• Butterflies – show the wearer is trustworthy, and an escape artist.

• Stalin and Lenin faces – considered sacred, so inmates would tattoo the faces over their hearts and vital organs so guards would not hit or shoot them in that spot of the body. Nowadays these tattoos are rarely used.

• Sailing Ship – This means that the wearer is willing come along with an escape plan. Anyone planning an escape will know that the wearer will be keen to be a part of it.

• Madonna – holding a baby Jesus – wearer has been a thief/criminal from their early days.

• Rose – The wearer celebrated a teenage birthday in the zone (prison).

• pornographic tattoos – in general these are either grins or forcibily applied because of failure to pay gambling debts or other infractions of the theives code.

Hand tattoos

• ‘Finger ring’ tattoos (there is a complex system with many types of ring tattoo). These tattoos may indicate the time served, type of crime or place of imprisonment.

[source article]