There's a reason some gang members cover their bodies in tattoos, and it makes perfect business sense
Gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha have spread their influence all over the Western Hemisphere, and one of the clearest signs that you're dealing with a member is the garish tattoos that often adorn their bodies.
The designs of those tattoos are often different, specified by the individual and their gang, but there's an underlying reason for why they get them, and it makes perfect business sense.
Prisons in El Salvador and Honduras, where MS-13 is based, are full of current and former gang members coated with ink identifying their loyalties, whether they be to MS-13 or another Central American gang like Barrio 18, which is regarded as one of MS-13's main rivals.
"They can't find work with a rival cartel, and so they have to stay working for the gang that they started off with. This makes them much cheaper and it means that the gang can treat them how they like."
As these gangs have spread to places were anti-gang law-enforcement efforts are more robust - like the suburbs of Washington, DC - the tattoos have become a less central part of gang life.
Tattoo-removal programs have also cropped up, as government and civil-society efforts to pull people away from gangs have ramped up.