Fwd: Russian Criminal Tattoos

[gfowler at INDIANA.EDU]

Greetings!

A student in my second-year Russian class asked me yesterday about 
Russian criminal tattoos. Of course I know nothing at all about this, 
but I asked her to write up her question in forwardable form. If anyone 
can help her, I'd be delighted to pass along any information sent 
directly to me or posted to this list. Thanks in advance!

George Fowler

The student writes:

I've had a few questions about Russian criminal tattoos pop up 
recently. First of all I'll make the disclaimer that I don't know 
exactly what the proper name for the Russian Mafia/Mob/Cartel/Bratva 
is, so I'll just be using Mafia as a catch all - feel free to specify 
or to not get into it (I'd like to learn, but my point in asking is the 
tattoos)

My first question is: at what frequency these are given in prisons versus
those who get them done outside of prison. For example, the stars on the
collar bone and knees seem to be done mostly outside of prison (from my
extremely limited understanding, do correct me if I'm wrong), while
something like shackles would be more likely than not acquired during
incarceration. The tattoos I have specific questions about are the hands
holding the Kremlin, the stars for ranking, and the epaulets on the
shoulders (more specifically with the imperialist rankings over the soviet,
but any information will do) What are the exact meanings of these tattoos,
in what organizations/rings of crime are people more likely to get them, and
how are they likely to be acquired? Is prison most likely for them all, or
are they concevably gained while outside of jail?

----- End forwarded message -----


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