During the 20th century in the Soviet Union, Russian criminal and prison communities maintained a culture of using tattoos to indicate members' criminal career and ranking. Specifically among those imprisoned under the Gulag system of the Soviet era, the tattoos served to differentiate a criminal leader or thief in law from a political prisoner.
The practice grew in the 1930s, peaking in the 1950s and declining in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s.
Origins
The branding of criminals was practised in Russia long before tattooing was customary, and was banned in 1863. In the 19th century, a "pricked" cross on the left hand was often used to identify deserters from the army, and up until 1846, criminals sentenced to hard labour were branded "BOP" (thief), the letters on the forehead and cheeks. Brands were also applied to the shoulder blade and the right forearm, in three categories; "CK" for Ssylno-Katorzhny (hard labour convict), "SP" for Ssylno-Poselenets (hard labour deportee) and "Б" for Begly (escapee). In 1846, VOR was replaced by "KAT"; the first three letters of the word for "hard labour convict" or katorzhnik.
In the 1930s, Russian criminal castes began to emerge, such as the Masti (suits) and the Vor v Zakone (rus. Вор в Законе) or Blatnye (authoritative thieves), and with that a tattoo culture to define rank and reputation. Up until World War II, any tattoo could denote a professional criminal, the only exception being tattoos on sailors.
Under the Gulag system of the Soviet era, laws that were implemented in mid-1940 allowed short prison sentences to be given to those convicted of petty theft, hooliganism, or labor discipline infractions. This led to an increase in the prison population during and after World War II. By January 1941, the Gulag workforce had increased by approximately 300,000 prisoners. Tattoos served to differentiate between an authority or "thief in law", and the many hundreds of thousands of political prisoners who were imprisoned during and shortly after World War Two for crimes not considered those of a "Vor" (thief).
Some of the motifs came from English sailor tattoos, such as the flying tall ships, a heart pierced by a dagger, anchors, a serpent-entwined heart or a tiger baring its teeth.
A thief's collection of tattoos represents his "suit" (mast), which indicates his status within the community of thieves and his control over other thieves within the thieves' law. In Russian criminal jargon or Fenya (феня), a full set of tattoos is known as frak s ordenami (a tailcoat with decorations). The tattoos show a "service record" of achievements and failures, prison sentences and the type of work a criminal does. They might also represent his "thief's family", naming others within hearts or with the traditional tomcat image. Misappropriation of the tattoos of a "legitimate thief" could be punished by death, or the prisoner would be forced to remove them themselves "with a knife, sandpaper, a shard of glass or a lump of brick".
Bitch war
After World War II a schism occurred in the criminal world leading to the Bitch Wars. Many convicts had fought in penal units, in contravention of the thieves' code that no thief should serve in the military or cooperate with authorities in any way. Many legitimate thieves found themselves demoted to frayer (outsider), muzhik (мужик, peasant), or suka (сука, traitor, bitch). This was part of a power struggle; with limited resources in prison, outlawing the "bitches" (suki) allowed the legitimate thieves to take more for themselves.
Tattoos were modified and new designs appeared to distinguish between the two groups. The dagger piercing a heart was modified, adding an arrow: this tattoo indicated a legitimate thief and his desire to seek vengeance against those who had violated the thieves' code. The compass rose became an indicator of aggression to prison officials and the "bitches", indicating the vow that "I will never wear epaulettes" and hatred towards those who had served in the Soviet Army. Secret acronyms were created by legitimate thieves that the "bitches" wouldn't recognise, such as СЛОН (SLON, "elephant"), meaning Суки Любят Острый Нож (Suki Lyubyat Ostry Nozh, "Bitches love a sharp knife").