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.
Black Gang Tattoos
This cryptic tattoo is gang code for "East Coast Crips." In this case "East Coast" does not refer to the Eastern seaboard. It means "east" of the 110 (Harbor Freeway), which runs north to south through Los Angeles. The tattoo depicts an "E" and a convoluted hand sign for "C." Incidentally, this gang was featured in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video. PoliceMag.com gang specialist Richard Valdemar transported them to the set.
Tattoos of the Bloods are pretty basic. You will see P for "Piru" or B for "Blood." Another popular Blood symbol is CK. This can stand for "Crip Killer" or "Cop Killer." This inmate sports a P for "Piru" and marking him as a member of the Piru Street gang, a Compton-based Blood set. Many non-Crip gangs formed a coalition opposed to the Crips, often using the names Bloods or Pirus.
A Black Guerrilla Family prison gang tattoo.
The Crips are not very imaginative with their tattoos. Their most common symbols are the letter C for "Crip" or BK for "Blood Killer." The Crips were founded in South Los Angeles in 1971 by Raymond Washington. Later, Stanley Tookie Williams would claim to have co-founded it, a claim that is disputed by most accounts.
This tattoo signifies a Pasadena Denver Lane Blood. The fingers are curled to create the "B" for Bloods. The Denver Lanes were a Pasadena gang that joined with other non-Crip gangs to oppose Crip gangs.
Rapper 50 Cent bears many tattoos from his days in East Coast gangs.
This tattoo reveals that the wearer is a member of the Long Beach Insane Crips. The "2" and the "1" in the upper corners represent East 21st Street, the gang's home turf on the so-called "eastside" of Long Beach near the 710 Freeway. Rapper Snoop Dog is closely associated with this gang, although he is actually a Rollin' 20's Crip.
A Bloods gang member tattoo.
This Gangster Disciples Nation tattoo displays the Chicago-based gang’s most common symbols: a three-pointed pitchfork and a six-pointed star (Star of David) in remembrance of its co-founder 'King' David Barksdale (there is no connection to the Jewish symbol apart from the name of King David). GDN has an enormous presence in Chicago and other Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee, Minneapol
The Black Guerrilla Family is a prison gang founded in 1966 by Black Panther George Jackson, while he was in San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco. The gang is ideologically based with the stated goal of ending racism and overthrowing the U.S. government. The most obvious BGF tattoo is "BGF." You will also see the numbers "276," with 2 representing "B," 7 representing "G," and 6 representing "F."