Other parts of the crown, such as the jewel and points, often denote rank or positions within the gang. 

5. African American Gang Tattoos

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, Created in Canva by Jono

Any teen growing up in the 1990s heard about and watched films about the feuding LA gangs the Crips and Bloods. These gangs are still in operation today – however in prison they tend to band together. 

Another large prison gang is Black Guerilla Family (BGF). Their motifs display a black dragon attacking a prison gun tower. 

Other, more localized African gangs are also heavily represented in prison, or which the Playboyz example is just one. 

6. The Japanese Yakuza

Image Source: El Mimmo via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 Created in Canva by Jono

Japan’s extraordinary underworld and their distinct tattoos have been featured in more than half a century’s film and television, from The Simpsons to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill trilogy.  

While these vibrantly inked hooligans have been depicted across Japanese culture in a variety of different ways, they remain a very real group of criminals. 

Despite their criminal success and brutal tactics, it is Yakuza gang members striking and colorful traditional full body tattoos that have caught the imagination of the West, helping to promote their exotic and glamorous identity over the day to day drudgery of criminality. 

See more about – All You Need to Know About Yakuza and Tattoos

7. Russian Prison Tattoos

While elements have been co-opted into the US prison system, inmates from the former Soviet Union are literally walking bibliographies of crime at every level. 

From 1948-1976 a man named Danzig Baldaev drew over 20,000 pictures of Russian criminal tattoos and took photos of all manner of prisoner. 

Russian prison and gang tattoos feature a highly developed, complex structure that delineates different types or prisoners, their hierarchy, crimes, and status.