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541 Results
Special Units
Black Gang Tattoos
Gang members are usually decorated with the marking of their sets, super-gangs, and affiliated prison gangs. Their bodies are also often marked with tattoos that are generic prison symbols that you will find on just about any inmate. The following slide show is a quick look at some tattoos used by some predominately African-American gangs with origins in California.
June 29, 2009
Special Units
White Gang Tattoos
The Aryan Brotherhood, which is also known as "AB" or "The Brand," is a primarily white prison gang with about 15,000 members in and out of prison. According to the FBI, the gang makes up only one percent of the prison population, but is responsible for 18 percent of all murders in the federal corrections system. Members use symbols in their tattoos such as swastikas, SS lightning bolts, the number 666, and Celtic imagery.
August 7, 2009
Special Units
Latino Gang Tattoos
Tattoos are an excellent tool for law enforcement and corrections officers to use to identify known or suspected gang members. This gallery includes examples of tattoos worn by predominanly Latino gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, MS-13, and the Latin Kings. The number "13" is used because M (or La Eme) is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet and is used to signify the Mexican Mafia, which uses Sureños—gangs that swear allegiance to the Mexican Mafia—to carry out its orders from prison.
August 5, 2009
Special Units
European Gangs Tattoos
Take a close look at the recent media coverage of the rioting in France, and you will see that those young French men of Arab and African descent are wearing identifying tattoos.
January 31, 2006
Special Units
L.A. Sheriff Moves to Fire Elite Gang Officers
Seven Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies in an elite gang-enforcement unit have been notified the department intends to fire them for celebrating shootings and getting matching tattoos.
February 6, 2013
Special Units
Gang Intel for Officers: MS-13
Detroit Police Sgt. Harold Rochon, an expert gang trainer hosts this one-hour training broadcast covering everything you need to know about the MS-13 gang, from its origin to its identifiers - such as graffiti, tattoos, gang hand-signs and gang colors, to its method of recruiting, drug dealing, and plotting violent crimes in our communities.
May 5, 2010
Special Units
Prison and Gang Ink Symbols
In addition to advertising gang membership, tattoos provide other details about the bearer. For the incarcerated, images of chains and locks represent the loss of freedom; an hourglass or clock face without hands indicate doing time; a string of numbers may be an inmate's prison ID; one laughing face, one crying face means play now, pay later or my happy life, my sad life; a tombstone with numbers may indicate years of incarceration; the face of a female crying usually means someone on the outside is waiting for them. Caption information provided by POLICE gang expert Richard Valdemar.
August 7, 2009
Patrol
Texas Agency Bans Visible Tattoos in Wake of Officer's Off-Duty Murder
A San Antonio-area city has banned visible tattoos for municipal employees at work four months after an off-duty officer was killed outside his tattoo parlor.
September 23, 2014
Gangs
Knocking Down Barrio Azteca
The Barrio Azteca gang members organize themselves using a paramilitary structure and apply English terms or their Spanish equivalent words for ranks such as captain, lieutenant, and sergeant. By current estimates, more than 2,000 members make up their ranks. They often use the letters "BA" or numbers "21" as their identifying symbols and tattoos.
December 26, 2011
Special Units
NFL Player Accused of Murder Claims No Gang Ties
Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has told Bristol County (Mass.) Sheriff's gang investigators he has no ties to organized street gangs as he faces murder charges in the death of a friend.
July 3, 2013
Special Units
East Los Angeles Priest Publishes Gang-Intervention Memoir
The Rev. Greg Boyle, the Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries, has published a memoir about his work steering wayward youth away from gang involvement.
March 16, 2010
Patrol
Good Samaritan, Former Gang Member Moved Wounded Houston Officer Out of Kill Zone
“But when the shooting rang out, he didn’t just continue to film, like so many people are doing in this upside-down world. This young African-American male, who told me he was a gang member, that his life was way out there, but he’s found God and has turned his life around. He went and helped Officer Waller,” Chief Art Acevedo said.
October 21, 2020
Special Units
Chicago Sgt. Says Gang Will Adopt New ASU Sun Devils' Logo
The Pac-12 school ditched its Disney-inspired grinning devil in favor of a pitchfork that resembles the crude trident of the Satan's Disciples, Chicago Police Sgt. Kenneth Epich tells the Arizona Republic.
April 28, 2011
Gangs
Sureño Tattoos and Symbols
Sureños can be found in every major city in the U.S. They can be found in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and South America. The big transnational super gangs such as Florence, 18th Street, and Mara Salvatrucha threaten the stability of some Central American nations.
March 2, 2010
Point of Law
California Deputy’s Lawsuit Says He Was Fired for Not Joining Sheriff’s Department “Gang”
Federico Carlo, the ex-deputy behind the suit, alleges he was wrongly accused of giving a Nazi salute and sharing a sexually explicit photo, then “abruptly terminated” by a “tattooed Regulator deputy gang member.”
April 3, 2024
Patrol
FBI Investigating Deputy "Gangs" in LA County Sheriff’s Department
The FBI is investigating a secret society of tattooed deputies in East Los Angeles as well as similar gang-like groups elsewhere within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
July 11, 2019
Special Units
L.A. Gang Member Convicted of Murder Tattooed Crime Scene On Chest
Anthony Garcia, 22, had tattooed the crime scene of a 2004 liquor store shooting on his chest, helping deputies solve the open case.
April 24, 2011
Training
Police Patrol Gang Websites
August 31, 2001
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