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Old August 20th, 2008 #1
Axel Faaborg
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,110
Default SS bolts tattoos mark you for death - urban myth?

I was recently watching a program about the history of tattoos(they date back to early European man shortly after the ice age, btw.) A segment of the program focused on prison tats, and I took notice particularly because they were filming in Maricopa County Jail for this segment.

Anyway, they had a supposed prison tattoo expert on and this guy was trying to explain all the tattoos that skinheads and Nazis get. When he came to the SS bolts though, he said something that made me take notice.
Basically, this guy said that you had to *earn* your SS bolts by doing "something particularly horrendous." What's more, if you showed up in lockup with SS bolts tattooed on you and the skinheads there found out you didn't do that certain something, they are given the ok by their higher-ups to take you out or remove the tattoo.

Now, I've never heard of this before in my life. Anybody could get SS bolts tattooed on them if they wanted, hell Sonny Barger of the Hell's Angels has a pair, and he's not a skin or a Nazi. It strikes me as the old BS about skins having to earn their red laces. Plus, Maricopa County Jail isn't exactly federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, you go there if you're doing a stretch of less than one year. I'd wager a good percentage of the inmates are just folks doing time for a DUI.

So, has anyone heard of this guy's theory about SS bolts tattoos being credible? I've already got SS bolts tattooed on me and I'd hate to have to get into a fight with another white man over whether or not I "earned" them should I end up in County Jail.