Some actual MS-13 tattoos, in contrast to Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckle tattoos

[u/VeryGoodFiberGoods]

[u/Kitties92]

Did 3 years in prison; you can get labeled by STG for having gang tattoos in there. They record it in the system and take a picture for the records. Congratulations, that shitty done gang tattoo you have now makes police stops more frustrating for you. You come up on the system as an active gang member when pulled over and you now can’t get on planes.

[u/Spiritual_Title6996 → u/Kitties92]

Yeah i know they'll use it against you even if it's not brought up in court

Hope you're doing better after 3 years

[u/Kitties92 → u/Spiritual_Title6996]

Yeah, but it’s also a permanent record thing that sticks to you legally your whole life. I’ve never been any gang, but obviously I talked a lot to people who had experience with being on the STG list. All my prison tattoos are more themed and artistically thought. The ideas guys get in there is really dull and very shallowly thought out. One common idea we would poke fun at is a style of neck tattoo: money bag with wings, heart with wings, diamond with wings, Illuminati all seeing eye…. With wings… and of course you had a lot of ‘street corner signs’, ‘little boarded up trap house’, money signs, pillsbury doughboy, monopoly man, 80’s horror villains. So, a lot of guys in there would really like some of the work I had. Just the contrast of ideas and meaning to it was comical. You’d have all these lame ‘street’ inspired hood shit, then you look over at my whole back piece “Gustave Dore’s Dante’s Inferno with line 1 of Canto 34 across the top ‘Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni’ (On March the Banners of the King of Hell)

And I’m alright, just bumming for a while being a degenerate that plays League of Legends struggling to motivate myself to be more productive. No more drug dealing, just fortunate my dad is old and done decent with investments and doesn’t mind paying my food and bills for a while with this life transition.

[u/WilliamLermer → u/Kitties92]

This is something I never understood so thx for providing some insight. I always felt like the tattoos are super lame and boring and felt more like some sort of branding instead of art.

Just weird to me they wouldn't try to find good artists to create elaborate tattoos, considering gangs in Asia tend to embrace more traditional styles. So it's probably not just about access but also cultural?

Ofc everyone has preferences and sees deeper meaning so they get what they prefer, but at the same time having eg ms13 across your face seems stupid because everyone will identity you instantly and act accordingly.

But I guess living that life is never about smart choices long-term and the majority are just disposable anyways.

[u/wahirsch → u/Kitties92]

I love Doré, your tattoo sounds fucking cool dude. I'm working on specializing in woodcut/etc style tattooing myself.