For Gangs, Tattoos Are Out - Latin In America | Terra

For Gangs, Tattoos Are Out - Latin In America | Terra: "After anti-gang laws, were approved in 2007 government officials made it illegal to be an associate of a crime, in other words, if someone looked like a gang member, they were subject to arrest. Gang members have stopped tattooing themselves and have resorted to more subtle, low profile ways of identifying themselves as members of those criminal organizations. Today, gang members with tattooed faces, are either dead, in prison or hiding.
The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are known throughout Central America and the U.S. for their brazen tactics, including beheading their enemies and covering entire buildings and even their bodies with gang symbols.
The gangs first formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s, attracting Salvadorans who fled to the United States to escape civil war. A decade later, after many of the members were deported for crimes committed in the United States, the gangs established themselves in Central America."