Tattooed Crook: Difference between revisions
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''Hustlin', robbery, whatever brung the paper home
''Carried the chrome like a blind man hold a cane
''Tattoos all over his chest so you could know his name"''
|'''Dead Prez''', "Behind Enemy Lines"}}
Tattoos have a long history, and have over the millenia been signs of different social classes, from royalty to the rags. In more recent times, they have become associated with criminals, sailors and [[Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs|criminal]] [[Pirates|sailors]]. In fiction, a tattoo can act as a shorthand for "criminal", and at times [[Truth in Television|it's not that far off]]. Organised crime from The [[Yakuza]] to [[Gang-Bangers]] have their own codes, and prisoners tell their life stories in pictures.
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{{examples}}
== Anime
* Revy from ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' has a large shoulder piece. Also, Yakuza muscleman Ginji from the "Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise" arc sports a large traditional Yakuza tattoo.
* Nami from ''[[One Piece]]'' first had the Arlong pirate's crest on her shoulder, but after breaking ties with them, changed it into a homage to her adoptive mother Bellemere and surrogate father figure Genzo. (Her adoptive older sister Nojiko, despite not being a crook, also got a tattoo to show her sympathy for her.) Also, Luffy's brother Ace has A<s>S</s>CE on his bicep and the Whitebeard Pirate's crest on his back, which in the manga contained a Maji, but was changed [[No Swastikas|into a cross in the Anime]] and retconned into the manga.
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* [[Wolverine]]'s [[Magnificent Bastard]] son Daken sports a very prominent tribal tattoo on his left pectoral, trapezius, and arm, despite having inherited his dad's [[Healing Factor]].
* In ''[[Love and Rockets]]'', Izzy Ortiz has a tattoo on her arm of the logo of the Widows, the female street gang she was a member of in her youth.
* ''[[X-Men]]'':
** In ''X-Men Noir'', all of Xavier's original X-Men have an "X" tattooed somewhere on their body - and all of them are master criminals in the making. In the sequel, ''Mark of Cain'', prisoners at Genosha Bay are marked with an "M" tattoo over their right eye. This is ostensibly to signify that they pose a "maximum" risk should they ever be transferred to another facility, but functionally it serves as an automatic identifier should they manage to escape.
** In ''[[X-Men Black Legion]]'' (which takes place in the ''[[Age of Apocalypse]]'' setting) the Blob has a large tattoo on his torso of a pig with the word "GOOD" above it and "LIFE" below it, the words in fancy letters.
* ''[[Sin City]]'' has the occaisional tattooed criminal with the most obvious example actually comoing from a corrupt federal agent who had a big black tattoo of an eagle across his face.
* El Diablo from the 2011 ''[[Suicide Squad]]'' series, a slumlord turned holy man with tats all over his upper body; the ones on his head in particular make it look like a skull.
* After Hun was brought into the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage|Mirage comics]] from the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|second cartoon]], his stylized Dragon tattoo was made exponentially more elaborate, full of scales and covering his entire arm.
== Fan Works ==
* ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' has Tsuruya's father [[Large and In Charge|Kenshiro]] and her bodyguard Kasai. Both of them belong to [[Yakuza]].
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* ''[[Faster]]''. Driver has a tattoo on his forearm marking those people he killed in prison over the past ten years. A [[Badass]] Samoan takes one look and backs off, knowing full well the reputation of the man wearing it.
* ''[[The Transporter|Transporter 2]]''. [[The Dragon|Lola]] has a tattoo on her [[Zettai Ryouiki|inner thigh]] labelled "[[Killer Rabbit|Death by Rabbit]]" with a snarling rabbit wielding six[[Guns Akimbo]].
* Drax the Destroyer from ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy (film)|Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' (whom the rest of the cast meets in prison, implying a criminal background) almost always goes shirtless, showing off his muscular torso covered with tribal scarification tattoos.
== Literature ==
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* When amnesiac Peter Petrelli from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' joins [[The Irish Mob]] for a few episodes in Season 2, he gets the gang tattoo (a Celtic knot) which at one point transforms into the [[Sigil Spam|RNA helix]] and back.
* Everpresent with the bikers in ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'', including the intro sequence, and a plot point, when an ex-member hasn't covered up the gang name in his large back piece, and it's burned off by the members. Samcro hitman Happy also has several smily faces tattoos around his abdomen marking his victims.
* The Ha'la'tha gang in ''[[Caprica]]'' is made up of these. The elaborate tattoos all have [https://web.archive.org/web/20100220133444/http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/show-patrol/2010/02/exclusive-caprica-producer-jane-espenson-explains-sam-adamas-tattoos.html meanings], by the way.
* The Jinn in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' look like heavily tattooed people with blue flames coming out of their hands.
* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Luther]]'', where an American kidnapper with a tattoo covering his entire face is seen wiping it off in the next scene, as it's meant to distract attention from his real features.
* There was an episode of ''[[Taxi]]'' where Alex was mugged by a crook who had the word "KILL" tattooed on his hand, prompting his [[Mean Boss]] Louie DePalma to give his opinion on people with tattoos:
{{quote|'''Louie:''' Never, ''never'' pick up guys with tattoos! That's a cardinal rule. They're all morons, maniacs, and lowlifes.
'''Tony:''' Louie, [[I'm Standing Right Here| I got a tattoo]].
'''Louie:''' Oh yeah, and ''losers''.}}
== Music ==
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** This is also true with [[Transformers (film)|Movie]] [[The Starscream|Starscream.]]
* [[Harley Quinn]] has a tattoo of a Joker (the card, not the character) on his thigh in ''[[Batman: Assault on Arkham]]'', showing it to distract a guard so Killer Croc can ambush him.
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'':
** The ninja thief Kyodai-Ken has a ''huge'' and elaborate tattoo of a Japanese demon's head on his back.
** In another episode, Scarface's [[Dumb Muscle]] henchman Rhino had a tattoo (of a rhinoserous head, naturally) on his arm that was not very obvious at all, but Batman was still able to use this feature to identify him from a security camera and discover who he was working for.
== Real Life ==
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** Trope relevant to most criminal affiliations in Eastern and Central Europe. For example in Poland exist similar code, however not as strictly abided by. Such tattoos, made usually on hands and around eyes, indicate kind of crime inmate was incarcerated for. Markings of length of a sentence (with eventual paroles) and particular prison are usually made on arms, back and chest.
* Probably the most recognizable real-life example is Danny Trejo, the incredibly menacing Mexican thug in numerous films by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Before he was an actor, Mr. Trejo was a convicted felon.
* Tattoos are in a pretty weird spot since the 2010s. Their acceptance has gone through the roof worldwide, with men and women alike being covered in ink quite a bit. However, there's still a soft limit whether a tattooed person's going to be a crook or not. In the case the tattoos are solitary or form a unilateral sleeve, the person's likely not a crook, just a tattoo fan. In the case the tattoos are widespread across the body, then it's likely the wearer (especially ''male'' wearers) are a current or former criminal. Females are a bit of a different story - many extremely tattooed women do it to give off the exotic sex appeal (see: Amber Luke, an Australian woman who went all the way and covered herself top-to-bottom in ink precisely because she wanted to become a sex doll) rather than because they're a part of a criminal organization.
{{reflist}}
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