History Main / TattooedCrook

** Notably, Kiryu's dragon tattoo is unfinished in ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', symbolizing that he hasn't yet become the [[RedBaron Dragon of Dojima]].
** ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' has the heavily-tattooed ex-hitman [[TheBigGuy Wen Hai Lee]]. He's searching for the man who [[spoiler:kidnapped Makoto and sold her into slavery]], with the only real clue to his identity being the distinctive bat tattoo on his left forearm. [[spoiler:Every member of Oda's old street gang, including Tachibana, had a bat tattoo, but Oda's the only one responsible for selling Makoto.]]

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' has the heavily-tattooed ex-hitman Wen Hai Lee. He's searching for the man who [[spoiler:kidnapped Makoto and sold her into slavery]], with the only real clue to his identity being the distinctive bat tattoo on his left forearm. [[spoiler:Every member of Oda's old street gang, including Tachibana, had a bat tattoo, but Oda's the only one responsible for selling Makoto.]]
** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', Yoshitaka Mine has the ''Kirin'', a creature stated to be the only one ''capable of killing a dragon.'' [[spoiler:Except for Kiryu. Killing him? In your fucking dreams, no matter how tough you think you are. Unless you're [[TheBigGuy Saejima]], but that dream is still far.]]

* {{Wolverine}}'s MagnificentBastard son {{ComicBook/Daken}} sports a very prominent tribal tattoo on his left pectoral, trapezius, and arm, despite having inherited his dad's HealingFactor.

* The Deacon from ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' has religious symbols and iconography tattooed all over his entire body, and true to form he is a very devout... uh... Christianity-derived murderous evil cult member. He's also first encountered by the Ghost Rider in prison (long story).

* The bikers in ''Film/HellRide''. Small plot point comes from villain Billy Wings who has different color wings tattooed on him to mark sexual transgressions, including purple wings for "licking dead pussy".
* ''Film/HoubaOnTheTrailOfTheMarsupilami'': The three gangsters Pablito owns money to have their faces heavily tattooed. At the end, their are beaten up by the Marsupilami and are smashed against a wall, leaving an imprint of their tattooed faces.

* The skinheads in ''Film/ThisIsEngland'' have homemade tattoos. At one point, they give a Shaun one too, a cross on [[KnuckleTattoos his left middle finger]].

** In ''Red Square'', the sequel to ''Polar Star'' (which is the sequel to ''Literature/GorkyPark''), one of Renko's partners looks at witness's tattoos and sounds off that each picture has a meaning, e.g. he's been to prison and is willing to murder and so on.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Volantis has a variant where slaves are given face-tattoos to identify them as such. Quite the MoodWhiplash when one sees them on the show's many prostitutes. There was also a Red Priestess with such a tattoo, implying quite the backstory.

* In ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'', Goren has been known to identify what prisons a criminal has served time in by identifying their prison ink. One episode had him being puzzled by a tattoo on a body until he discovered the victim had entered the U.S. from Canada. A Canadian contact was able to identify what prison the victim had been in on seeing a photo of the tattoo.

** In "Queen of Hearts" a woman also has prison tattoos. As a result the cops think that her boyfriend's murder might have been gang-related at first.

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' has Majima's Lieutenant [[TheBrute Daisaku]] [[BoozeFlamethrower Minami]], who sports all kind of weird and wacky tats, showing his balls-off-the-walls personality, with a tattoo of a snake slithering around a skull on his back, and the word "HONOR" on his belly.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003), several members of the Purple Dragons-gang sport the gang's trademark dragon as a tattoo. Their leader, Hun, sports the dragon tattoo along his left arm and wore a tattoo of the Foot insignia on his left. Another member had a purple dragon tattooed on his face, and not surprisingly, everyone called him "Dragon Face."

** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', Yoshitaka Mine has the ''Kirin'', a creature stated to be the only one ''capable of killing a dragon.'' [[spoiler:Except for Kiryu. Killing him? In your fucking dreams, no matter how tough you think you are. Except for when you're [[TheBigGuy Saejima]], but that dream is still far.]]

** Averted, and {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' with Takumi Someya who lacks the Irezumi, having a disdain against them entirely to show how far from the GoodOldWays the Yakuza has fallen, much to Kiryu's shock.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* There is some truth in this -- people with tattoos are more likely to have criminal records and are also more likely to be sexually active and engage in more high-risk behavior.
* The real-life {{Yakuza}} sport full-back to ''full-body'' tattoos depicting traditional symbolism. This is a major reason why visiting tourists are advised to cover up tattoos in places like public baths since tattoos carry ''major'' UnfortunateImplications in Japan.
* [[GangBangers Street gangs]] often skip the subtlety and just tattoo rather unambiguous gang symbols, and in a very extreme case, the Salvadoran American street gang MS-13 has the gang name and symbols tattooed on [[FacialMarkings member's faces]]. Many police departments now keep tattoo databases for this exact reason. One officer remarked that tats were "better than fingerprints". Some prison systems identify tattoos to help sort cell blocks by gang affiliations.
* Getting tattooed in prison is very common in many countries, to the point that "prison tattoos" are a whole unique "genre" of tattoo. Many of them, at least originally, carried specific meanings. The spider web can mean drug addiction (when on the inside of the arm joint), incarceration (when on the elbow), or membership of a white supremacist organization/killing a minority (neck, bicep). Teardrops can mean anything from dead family members, bragging about a kill count to being a child molester (the latter being the standard in Australia).
** In the U.S., an image of the state of Texas's very distinct shape filled with bars means the wearer has done time there.
* [[TheMafiya The Russian Mafia]] has its own codes. Some tattoos work as a sort of permanent resume, revealing lengths of time spent in prison, what services one offers, what position one holds (including also symbols for "prison bitch" and "snitch/ex-member"). "Lying" on this resume, or a non-member taking a Mafiya tattoo, may cause punishments. It also can warrant the offending tattoos being forcibly (and painfully) removed.
** This also holds true in Eastern and Central Europe, mainly parts which were once part of the Soviet Union, although usually the code isn't followed as strictly as in Russia itself. In Poland for example such tattoos, usually on the hands or around the eyes, indicate the kind of crime the inmate was convicted of. Marks for the length of a sentence (and eventual paroles) and the particular prison are usually made on arms, back, and the chest.
* Probably the most recognizable real-life example is Creator/DannyTrejo, 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.
* Used in the pseudoscience of physiognomy (the idea that character and personality was related to bodily features). Tattoos were one of the indications of criminality, despite not being a natural feature.
* In Sweden in TheThirties, two criminals who were known under the monikers "Beautiful" Bengtsson and "Tattooed" Johansson went on a legendary crime spree, committing cat burglaries, breaking safes, and evading the law for nearly two years, before law enforcement caught up with them in 1934.
* In many cultures at many points throughout the history of settled human civilization, from ancient times to the modern era, forced tattooing (as well as branding, scarring, and disfigurement) was used to permanently mark a convicted criminal. This was typically reserved for certain crimes, though in some cases just doing time or getting arrested earned you a conspicuous {{mark of shame}}. Even if the criminal escaped custody, served their sentence fully, or were exiled from a certain region, for the rest of their lives law enforcement would distrust them and law-abiding citizens would ostracize them. Some modern criminal cultures trace their tattoo traditions back to these practices, or at least claim to.
* Members of Hitler's Schutz-Staffel (SS) were required to have their blood group tattooed on the underside of an arm. After Nazi Germany lost the war, and the SS was deemed a criminal organization, those hunting high-ranking SS members for the Nuremberg war crimes trials were aided by this form of identification.
[[/folder]]

** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' with Takumi Someya who lacks the Irezumi, having a disdain against them entirely to show how far from the GoodOldWays the Yakuza has fallen, much to Kiryu's shock.

* The ''Videogame/{{Yakuza}}'' series naturally features many characters with ''irezumi'' back tattoos and some with sleeve tattoos. The series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, has a full-back tattoo of a silver dragon that's shown whenever he [[BattleStrip takes his shirt off]] for a final boss throwdown. [[BreakoutCharacter Fan-favorite]] Goro Majima has a Hannya mask on his back.

** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' with Takumi Someya who lacks the Irezumi, having a disdain against them entirely to show how far from the GoodOldWays he has fallen, much to Kiryu's shock.

This could be regarded as an EvolvingTrope; as tattoos went into mainstream fashion during TheNineties, the crooks took their tattoos UpToEleven; see TattooAsCharacterType. If a group of crooks has a defining tattoo, see GroupIdentifyingFeature.

* Most of the gang members in ''Film/SinNombre'' are heavily tattooed. L'il Mago, the leader of the gang, takes this trope UpToEleven, [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__BqlxfEVGSg/S0OMM6iiZpI/AAAAAAAABpA/IiEIVivImsU/s400/sin+nombre+1.jpg as seen here.]]

** SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' plays it [[HiddenAgendaVillain seemingly]] straight with [[TheConspiracy Red Lotus]] operatives P'Li (who takes Combustion Man's [[HavingABlast schtick]] UpToEleven and has [[ThirdEye similar inkwork]]) and Ghazan (who, according to WordOfGod, is inked up just for RuleOfCool).

** ''VideoGame/LostJudgement'': ''The Kaito Files'' has [[TheBrute Shusuke]] [[TheAlcoholic Kenmochi]], who sports tribal tattoos.

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' has Majima's Lieutenant [[TheBrute Minami]] [[BoozeFlamethrower Daisaku]], who sports all kind of weird and wacky tats, showing his balls-off-the-walls personality, with a tattoo of a snake slithering around a skull on his back, and the word "HONOR" on his belly.

** ''VideoGame/LostJudgement'': ''The Kaito Files'' has [[TheBrute Kenmochi]] [[TheAlcoholic Shusuke]], who sports tribal tattoos.

* Similar to the Tattooed Man, Franchise/{{Batman}} villain Pyx has the ability to animate the tattoos that cover her body.

* Taken to its logical extremes in Franchise/TheDCU, with two supervillains known as the Tattooed Man, both of whom have the ability to bring their many tattoos to life for villainous purposes.

** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' with Takumi Someya, who lacks the Irezumi, having a disdain against them entirely to show how far from the GoodOldWays he has fallen, much to Kiryu's shock.

* Darth Maul from ''Franchise/StarWars''. See also the Expanded Universe entry below.

* Rick from ''[[{{Webcomic/morphe}} morphE]]''.
* Many examples in ''Webcomic/LaMouetteNoire''. Sarena, Mara, and Easy, to the authorities. Lady Faucon to Mara.

* ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'' has Seamus, the tattooed thug of TheIrishMob, the [[FetishizedAbuser bastard]] [[PsychoExGirlfriend ex-boyfriend]] out to get [[Creator/DrewBarrymore Drue Barrymore's]] character, [[DarkAndTroubledPast Dylan]].

* ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'' has Seamus, the tattooed thug of TheIrishMob, the [[BastardBoyfriend bastard]] [[PsychoExGirlfriend ex-boyfriend]] out to get [[Creator/DrewBarrymore Drue Barrymore's]] character, [[DarkAndTroubledPast Dylan]].

* ''Series/SWAT2017'': In "[[Recap/SWATS02E06NeverAgain Never Again]]" the robbers each sport a tattoo in Hebrew on their chest saying "[[TitleDrop Never Again]]". Deacon and Chris note it's odd as they're Jews but tattooing isn't allowed in Judaism and even will get you excluded from a Jewish traditional cemetery, but they clearly didn't care. Since it denoted a vow which they made against their parents' murderers, this isn't too surprising.
** That tattooing will get you excluded from a traditional Jewish cemetery is a common but erroneous belief, promulgated by parents and authority figures to discourage tattooing. It is one of the many things that is prohibited but not punishable--and tattooing is not prohibited if done for a medical reason, as may be the case with marks for radiation treatment (in which case it might actually be required, to help save a life) or to ameliorate a disfiguring condition (this under the rationale that the tattooing would increase the person's ability to earn a living and to marry). And no one would dare suggest that a Jew tattooed under duress in a concentration camp should be excluded from burial in a Jewish cemetery.

** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', Yoshitaka Mine has the ''Kirin'', a creature stated to be the only one ''capable of killing a dragon.'' [[spoiler:Except for Kiryu. Killing him? In your fucking dreams, no matter how tough you think you are. Except for when you're Saejima, but that dream is still far.]]

* ''Series/RipperStreet'': In "In My Protection", TheFagin Carmichael is covered with a multitude of tattoos; each one of which represents a specific crime he has committed. His gang of kids have similar tattoos.

* Corky from ''Film/{{Bound|1996}}'' sports a labrys, a symbol of lesbianism and feminine strength.

* ''DungeonsAndDragonsTheBookOfVileDarkness'': Seith, a ruthless assassin, has distinctive jagged black tattoos on his face and neck.