Russian Criminal Tattoo Art

[miniKAT]

i really like the designs, and i'm a huge fan of tattoo art and culture / meanings, but i'd be wary of a prison tattoo on a t.shirt.


like mentioned above, wrong neighborhood / person, you might end up with a shank in your back. tough call...

Both of u are out ur damn minds I live in sheepsheadbay and I have a few of the tats on me from when I was younger (not the ones from the shirts, but same category). I wear the shirts, My wife wears them, we sold quite a lot at a festival in Coney Island, to lots of people, Russian and not. As I said before the stigma of having those tattoos has been over for sometime, and the designs are from the 50's and 60's, Its not like walking around with a shirt with an 8 pointed star on ur shoulders. Relax, anybody fucks wit u, give me a call, I'll take care of it. Stop being such marys, its just a shirt

dear mini,

i read another thread where you explained about being from Russia/Coney (lot of time on my hands today). i guess i'll yield to you since there's some background other than picking a book up in barnes & noble (i assume). besides, you seem to have focused on the 'tamer' designs. not, say, the dozen or so unmentionable horrorshows that populate the latter half of the Baldaev book. *cringe*

sincerely,
mary

Thanx...My grandfather did some time in the 40's. I think the bigger problem with making the shirts is picking the designs that wouldnt offend a certain group of people, which was hard due to the fact that some of those tend to be the funniest. But, I dont want them to be offensive, so...Also some are quite sad or depressing, and I try to stay away from those...Still plenty of great designs in there though. Did u know that Volume 1 is over 600$ now. I bought it when it was 25$.

[miniKAT]

Those are cool shirts actually, but I gotta side with Cloutier. In your average suburban U.S. city, you'll probably have nothing to worry about. In Russia, i'd be slightly leary. All I know is prison tattoos here in America is still very serious business.

I'd have to disagree, there's no such culture in American prisons. Theres gang tattoos but thats about it, other than that u can tattoo just about anything. and meanings vary from person to person. There's no "code" so to speak. In Russia your tattoos is ur ID in the criminal world, without tattoos ur no one, could even be said that ur not a man. It would take a long time to explain, google it if ur intrested, a few sites are decent at explaining it.
Here's some cool Pix, of russian "lower" class citizens:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... l%26sa%3DG

[Thomas D and Jack Thomas]

Do some research man, there are plenty of documentaries on U.S. prison tattoos. Even something as simple and cliche as the teardrop tattoo still holds weight in the prison system. If you go to prison and get a couple of teardrops, claiming you killed a couple kids and some hardcore m.f. finds out you're lying...he's gonna smash your fucking face in. U.S. prison is the last place you want to be caught lying, especially if its about being a hard ass.

[miniKAT]

Do some research man, there are plenty of documentaries on U.S. prison tattoos. Even something as simple and cliche as the teardrop tattoo still holds weight in the prison system. If you go to prison and get a couple of teardrops, claiming you killed a couple kids and some hardcore m.f. finds out you're lying...he's gonna smash your fcking face in. U.S. prison is the last place you want to be caught lying, especially if its about being a hard a$$.

Listen my man, teardrops dont mean sh!t anymore, u know how many little wanna be "gangstas" upstate got that sh!t on their face? It dont mean nothing nowadays. they say they got that sh!t for their dead homies, if pressed by someone wit more clout (which is rare), but they tell their little gangsta friends that they got a body. I came home from upstate in 2006 after doing 3 straight. US prison is a hotel, and I been in a Max for reception and and did most of my time in a medium. Its a joke. No one answers for anything they say. Everyones a millionaire and a killer....oh and a rapper too. A dude can tell another dude to go fck himself and walk away without gettin checked on that sh!t (not always...but most of the time). None of that sh!t would fly in a russian prison. U answer for everything that comes out ur mouth. Especially claiming to be someone ur not, (criminally or even socially) either by mouth or tattoo.

I dont need to see documentary, I got 3 years of research. U never know who ur talking to, bro. I never claimed to be a hard ass. But if I open my mouth about something, I know what I'm talkin about. If I dont then I'll ask someone first.

[PsyTox]

sounds like playground IQ behavior to me. Some people really are too dumb to see that killing or hitting someone because they have a tear tattoo is ... stupid, retarded, mentally insane. There's nothing tough or glorious to that behaviour, it's just... lame. I love America and save up every year to go there, but everytime I read this type of badass gangsta blahblah it makes me realize again how small some people's world can be.

But that's just me, in my safe suburban european environment. No guns to be found in miles. Criminal statistics that include the number of bikes stolen (3!). Papers that mention the fact that someone sprayed graffiti on the town hall wall.
So w have nothing to tattoo but the logos of our favorite clubs and parties. And I'm glad for it.

[miniKAT]

sounds like playground IQ behavior to me. Some people really are too dumb to see that killing or hitting someone because they have a tear tattoo is ... stupid, retarded, mentally insane. There's nothing tough or glorious to that behaviour, it's just... lame. I love America and save up every year to go there, but everytime I read this type of badass gangsta blahblah it makes me realize again how small some people's world can be.

But that's just me, in my safe suburban european environment. No guns to be found in miles. Criminal statistics that include the number of bikes stolen (3!). Papers that mention the fact that someone sprayed graffiti on the town hall wall.
So w have nothing to tattoo but the logos of our favorite clubs and parties. And I'm glad for it.

Bad reading comprehension:lol:
We're talking about prison here, most people are not in prison due to their high IQ scores. I dont think anywhere in any of my posts did I claim to be a gangster or kill anyone. Simply corrected a fellow mnmlers incorrect statement.

I'll tell u this though. American prisons as well as ghettos are by far, not the worst, compared to some European ones (places like holland, norway, sweden, etc, excluded).

Anyways dont believ the hype, Brklyn and NYC are great, and as long as u mind ur business, ur safe. when u come through, let me know, we'll go to a club.

[miniKAT]

shameless bump for my shirts

Sold some after this guy contacted me and featured the shirts on his blog. Some cool stuff on there.

http://russiancriminaltattoo.blogspot.c ... mplex.html


Its hard to get people to find them. Any ideas?
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[::BLM::]

Do some research man, there are plenty of documentaries on U.S. prison tattoos. Even something as simple and cliche as the teardrop tattoo still holds weight in the prison system. If you go to prison and get a couple of teardrops, claiming you killed a couple kids and some hardcore m.f. finds out you're lying...he's gonna smash your fcking face in. U.S. prison is the last place you want to be caught lying, especially if its about being a hard a$$.

Listen my man, teardrops dont mean sht anymore, u know how many little wanna be "gangstas" upstate got that sht on their face? It dont mean nothing nowadays. they say they got that sht for their dead homies, if pressed by someone wit more clout (which is rare), but they tell their little gangsta friends that they got a body. I came home from upstate in 2006 after doing 3 straight. US prison is a hotel, and I been in a Max for reception and and did most of my time in a medium. Its a joke. No one answers for anything they say. Everyones a millionaire and a killer....oh and a rapper too. A dude can tell another dude to go fck himself and walk away without gettin checked on that sht (not always...but most of the time). None of that sht would fly in a russian prison. U answer for everything that comes out ur mouth. Especially claiming to be someone ur not, (criminally or even socially) either by mouth or tattoo.

I dont need to see documentary, I got 3 years of research. U never know who ur talking to, bro. I never claimed to be a hard a$$. But if I open my mouth about something, I know what I'm talkin about. If I dont then I'll ask someone first.

Yeah same as England now. Loads of people have teardrops, but it can symbolize many things. The most common would be to tell someone they did time.

Although I have never spent time in an American prison I find it hard to believe that it’s a hotel. Prison cells suck; it’s boring as fck and claustrophobic. The food is sh!t; the guards are cunts and not having any female to address your needs sucks. To say it’s a hotel is foolish.