History Main / TattooedCrook

Tattoos have a long history and have over the millennia been signs of different social classes, from royalty to the rags. In more recent times, they have become associated with criminals, sailors, and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs criminal]] [[{{Pirates}} sailors]]. In fiction, a tattoo can act as a shorthand for "criminal", and at times [[TruthInTelevision it's not that far off]]. Organised crime from The {{Yakuza}} to GangBangers have their own codes, and prisoners [[StoryboardBody tell their life stories in pictures]].

The attitudes towards tattoos have during the past decades softened, and many old pirate and prisoner tattoos have been adopted into the general lexicon of tattoos, prime example being the spider web, which depending on the bearer might have meant drug addiction, incarceration, or killing a minority, but is now a fashion accessory.

Still, the stigma with the past backgrounds makes tattoos also popular with rebel types. Even the RuleAbidingRebel -- or [[EspeciallyZoidberg especially]] the RuleAbidingRebel, since it does not actually require committing illegal acts to look rebellious. There is still extreme stigma related to tattoos in Japan, as they are still closely associated with the Yakuza to this day. A tattoo is still a common visual cue in Japanese media for a character of dubious morals or simply a {{Delinquent}}.

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

May be EmbarrassingTattoo when a crook goes straight. In futuristic settings, a BarcodeTattoo may be an Orwellian variety.

* Marks the difference between the levels of criminals in ''Film/{{Stiletto}}''. The more street-level criminals, like the biker gangs and the Mexican cartels, all sport large numbers of tattoos. The members of vigil's organised crime family -- even PsychoPartyMember Lee -- are all clean skins. Raina often comments on a criminal's ink before she kills them.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the song "You Ain't Bout That Life" by WakaFlockaFlame (who is both a member of Bloods and very heavily tattooed himself) when talking about the unnamed subject of his diss.

* One ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode dealt with a group of young [[TheMafia mafiosos]] killing a guy who had taken an unauthorized membership tattoo.

** There is a very strong tendency in Creator/JossWhedon works for characters with visible tattoos or other body modifications to be villainous and/or highly self-destructive. The most notable examples are Faith, Angelus (it's also there when he's Angel), and the Reavers, but many more minor characters follow the pattern. The only exceptions are Cordelia (Creator/CharismaCarpenter's real lower-back tattoo, which they initially made token efforts to hide before deciding that she [[BareYourMidriff looked sufficiently sexy in low-waisted clothes]] to outweigh the metaphorical issues) and Kennedy.

* The Sith, and various alien races in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse.

* "Timebomb" by Rancid is about a JuvenileDelinquent who dies a young man.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'': The Abramovici Brothers have tattoos representing their affiliations. Hammer has a massive church tattoo on his chest (a common Russian criminal tattoo), while Sickle has a pair of stylized penguins on either pectoral.

** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', Drax never wears a shirt, showing off a muscular torso ''covered'' with elaborate scarification.

* ''{{Mindhunter}}'': true to life, Manson has some old prison ink on his forearms and his infamous forehead Swastika. Richard Speck sports a crude "Born to Raise Hell" text on his arm, which is discussed as a part of his descent into his criminal persona.

* [[BigBad Reika the Tattooed Priestess]] in ''{{VideoGame/FatalFrame}} III'' has deep blue tattoos all over her body, which ensures that there's not much naughty detail to see despite [[FullFrontalAssault being topless]] while adding to her terrifying presence. In the selfsame game, those who are claimed by the Tattooed Curse and become hostile ghosts will have tattoos all over as well.

* Vega from ''Videogame/StreetFighterII'' has a snake tattoo on his back, meant to invoke Yakuza imagery.

* 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 face on his back.
** The tattoos are highly symbolic as well. Kiryu's enemies tend to either invoke TigerVersusDragon (Against [[BaldOfEvil Shimano]] or [[BaldHeadOfToughness Saejima]]) or LegendaryCarp (Against [[spoiler: [[EvilFormerFriend Nishikiyama]] or [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Aizawa]]]]). Majima's mask, on the other hand, is indicative of his hiding his true personality behind "the Mad Dog".
** ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'':
*** Notably, Kiryu's dragon tattoo is unfinished in this game, symbolizing that he hasn't yet become the [[RedBaron Dragon of Dojima]].
*** The 3 Dojima Lieutenants have their own ''irezumi'' that are symbolic in Kiryu's 1988 adventure. [[TheBrute Daisaku]] [[RecurringBoss Kuze]] has Judge Enma, signifying the 5 trials (read: fights) that Kiryu goes through, [[spoiler:[[EvilGenius Hiroki]] [[PurpleIsPowerful Awano]] has Momotaro, a Japanese folk hero who slays demons, and he faces off against Majima, who has a ''hannya'', a demon of sorts. Finally, there's [[DragonInChief Keiji]] [[FinalBoss Shibusawa]], who has a green Dragon ''irezumi'', and also refers to himself as [[RedBaron Dragon of Dojima]].]]
*** 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.]]
** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', Yoshitaka Mine has the ''{{Kirin}}'', a creature claimed to only appear in the presence of wise and benevolent leaders, [[spoiler:clearly alluding to his UndyingLoyalty to Daigo Dojima]]. Kirin are also stated to be the only creature ''capable of killing a dragon.'' [[spoiler:Except for Kiryu. You basically can't beat him, let alone actually kill him, no matter how strong you are. Unless you're [[TheBigGuy Saejima]], but that dream is still far.]]
** ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' has Majima's Lieutenant [[TheBrute Daisaku]] [[BoozeFlamethrower Minami]], who combines the traditional ''irezumi'' with wacky Western-style tattoos, like a snake slithering around a skull on his back, and the word "HONOR" in Gothic font on his belly, showing his balls-off-the-walls personality.
** 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.
** ''VideoGame/LostJudgment'': ''The Kaito Files'' has [[TheBrute Shusuke]] [[TheAlcoholic Kenmochi]], who sports tribal tattoos.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Delinquent Jacuzzi Splot from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has a scimitar tattooed on his face, as a symbol of solidarity to Nice, who got her face scarred in an accident.

* Horada from ''{{LightNovel/Durarara}}'' sports a butterfly tattoo on his left wrist. The butterfly logo also can be found on his shirt and the hood of his car. [[spoiler:He is also one of the more ruthless gang members, also being a former Blue Square higher-up that was involved in the kidnapping and crippling of Kida's girlfriend Saki]].

* The target of the week in the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "Heavy Metal Queen" was described to have a dragon tattoo, which caused some confusion as bounty hunters looked for the right guy.

* ''Literature/AbleTeam''. Carl Lyons is [[MuggingTheMonster attacked by gangbangers]] and sees several of them have a teardrop tattoo which supposedly shows they've killed someone or done time, but he cynically notes that a lot of gangbangers wore them without having done either. Then their leader appears with two teardrop tattoos, and Lyons thinks he looks like [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority someone who earned his the hard way.]]

** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', Yoshitaka Mine has the ''[[Kirin]]'', a creature claimed to only appear in the presence of wise and benevolent leaders, [[spoiler:clearly alluding to his UndyingLoyalty to Daigo Dojima]]. Kirin are also stated to be the only creature ''capable of killing a dragon.'' [[spoiler:Except for Kiryu. You basically can't beat him, let alone actually kill him, no matter how strong you are. Unless you're [[TheBigGuy Saejima]], but that dream is still far.]]

** 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. You basically can't beat him, let alone actually kill him, no matter how strong you are. Unless you're [[TheBigGuy Saejima]], but that dream is still far.]]

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' has Majima's Lieutenant [[TheBrute Daisaku]] [[BoozeFlamethrower Minami]], who sports all kinds 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.

->''"Just a young boy, born to a life of poverty\\

Tattoos all over his chest so you could know his name"''

* The leader of the clown gang in ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' has a clown face tattooed on both his arms.
* Delinquent Jacuzzi Splot from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}!'' has a scimitar tattooed on his face, as a symbol of solidarity to Nice, who got her face scarred in an accident.

* Joker in the ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' has a large tattoo of a red dragon on his back, suggesting possible {{Yakuza}} ties.
* King Snake, the [[HandicappedBadass blind]] EvilBrit from ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics (primarily the ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'') has a large snake tattooed on his chest.
* In ''ComicBook/TheCouriers'', Mous, one of the two criminal protagonists, has large tribal tattoos on both shoulders. The other protagonist, Special, has a smaller one on her shoulder blade. Their former boss, Triad gangster Johnny Funwrecker, is heavily tattooed all over with a mixture of traditional Chinese and punk rock styles.
* ComicBook/{{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.
* Death Reaper, the supervillain groupie/specialist in ''ComicBook/DarkReign: Zodiac''
* Taken to its logical extremes in Franchise/TheDCU, with two supervillains known as the Tattooed Man (one of which was a Comicbook/GreenLantern foe in the Silver Age), both of whom have the ability to bring their many tattoos to life for villainous purposes.
** Though subverted in ''Final Crisis'' where he [[spoiler: performs a HeelFaceTurn and becomes an honorary member of the Justice League.]]
*** [[spoiler: Then he joined Deathstroke's Titans and helped murder an innocent man for a chance to find the villain who killed his son.]]
* Similar to the Tattooed Man, Franchise/{{Batman}} villain Pyx has the ability to animate the tattoos that cover her body.
** Two of his tattoos, Kabuki Dan (a samurai) and Altara (a succubus) have been coming to life outside of his power and committing crimes of their own volition, making them the most literal possible expression of this trope: criminals who ''are'' tattoos.

* 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 Hellmoth is a tattooed criminal ''kaiju''.
* A very insignificant background character in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' had the left side of her body covered in tattoos. The annotations refer to her as Signalwoman, in a nod to D-List Batman villain Signalman. The tattoos were meant to correspond with the symbols on his cape.
** Von Bach and Swastika are both ''very'' heavily tattooed; Von Bach's body is almost completely covered in ink, making him black as coal from head to toe except for the unmarked areas on his chest and arms. Swastika has an elaborate design of blocks tattooed on him in such a manner that his non-tattooed skin forms a swastika symbol.

* Akita Sagawa in ''Comicbook/{{Nikolai Dante}}'' is mistress of the [[{{yakuza}} Black Dragons]], and is covered in tattoos from her neck to her thighs. Since this is the 27th century, her tattoos change shape and colour depending on her mood.
* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': King Snake considers himself a MightyWhitey and is a racist crook who murdered his way into a position of power among the gangs of Gotham's Chinatown with a prominent snake tattoo.

* "Parker Girls" (Darcy Parker's henchwomen in ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'') are all given a lily tattoo. If you're Darcy's "favorite toy" (read: Katchoo), she'll put it on your breast.
* El Diablo from the 2011 ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'' series, a slumlord turned holy man with tats all over his upper body; the ones on his head in particular make it look like a skull. They have some vague connection to his PlayingWithFire powers.
* After Hun was brought into the [[Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage Mirage comics]] from the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 second cartoon]], his stylized Dragon tattoo was made exponentially more elaborate, full of scales and covering his entire arm.
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel
** Scorpion from ''Comicbook/UltimateSpiderMan''.
** Red Skull in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates''. He has these all over his body including on his skinned face!
* Sakura the gambler, in ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo''.
* The conspiracy members in ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}''.
* There's a group of minor ''ComicBook/XMen'' villains called the Y-Men. They're white trash career criminals whose powers come from their tattoos -- for instance, the guy with a bomb on his hand has an explosive punch and the guy with cheetah spots on his back has super speed.
** There's also an X-Men member named Ink, whose powers come from various tattoos done by a Mutant artist.
* In ''X-Men Noir'', all of Xavier's original X-Men have an "X" tattooed somewhere on their body -- and all of them are master criminals in the making. In the sequel, ''Mark of Cain'', prisoners at Genosha Bay are marked with an "M" tattoo over their right eye. This is ostensibly to signify that they pose a "maximum" risk should they ever be transferred to another facility, but functionally it serves as an automatic identifier should they manage to escape.

* Bambi "Buck" Hughes of ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' is an [[AwesomeAussie Australian]] [[PsychoForHire mercenary]] who wears the tattoo of a stage head over his bared chest. Somewhat appropriate, since he's a [[spoiler:SerialRapist [[DepravedHomosexual of other men]],]] and [[AnimalMotif stags are known to be quite violent when it's breeding season]].

** The tattoos are highly symbolic as well. Kiryu's enemies tend to either invoke TigerVersusDragon (Against [[BaldOfEvil Shimano]] or [[BaldHeadOfToughness Saejima]]) or LegendaryCarp (Against [[spoiler: [[EvilFormerFriend Nishikiyama]] or
[[TheDogWasTheMastermind Aizawa]]]]). Majima's mask, on the other hand, is indicative of his hiding his true personality behind "the Mad Dog".

** The tattoos are highly symbolic as well. Kiryu's enemies tend to either invoke TigerVersusDragon or LegendaryCarp motifs. Majima's mask, on the other hand, is indicative of his hiding his true personality behind "the Mad Dog".

[[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.
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