Fwd: Russian Criminal Tattoos

[Laura Kline]

Dear George,
There are three volumes in this series: "Russian Criminal Tattoo
Encyclopaedia" by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell, Sergei Vasiliev and Danzig
Baldaev. There is also a great documentary: "Russian Prison Tattoos: Codes
of Authority, Domination, and Struggle" by Alix Lambert. Also, among the
extra materials on the dvd for the movie "Eastern Promises" there is some
information about tattoos and the culture surrounding it as well.
Best,
Laura



 -----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of gfowler at INDIANA.EDU
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 7:37 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Fwd: Russian Criminal Tattoos

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 -----


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------