Gang sign
Most gangs have a way of identifying itself to both its members and its rivals. Traditionally, these signals or signs have manifested themselves in gang-related attire, tattoos, graffiti, and hand signs. Although some signals and signs are fairly standard among larger gangs, many change from neighborhood to neighborhood or subgroup (set) to subgroup.
Tattoos
Tattoos have long been associated with gang membership, and connote the toughness desired by gang members as well as the permanence of gang affiliation. The designs used are frequently symbolic and often occur again and again in the symbolism of a particular gang, with some variation from area to area or to represent particular deeds (murder being one example).
The gang symbols used in tattoos and graffiti (below) are sometimes fairly involved, and often refer to the mythology and meaning that a gang may invent for itself. For example, the Star of David represents the Folk Nation once led by a man known as King David. In addition, each point of the star represents a "value" of the "nation." Norteños, commonly associated with Nuestra Familia, use the numbers 14 and 4 to refer to themselves, referencing the fact that "N" is the 14th letter of the English alphabet.
Graffiti
Graffiti also long been seen as a gang activity and is most related to the fact that many gangs have particular areas that they try to control. As above, the graffiti is often very symbolic and may contain more information, such as what activities the gang participates in and with whom they are at war. However, while gangs may bring graffiti, it is not the result or an indicator of significant gang activity.
Most often, gangs spray graffiti to mark territory or send a threat to a rival gang. When at war with another gang, they may visit locations the rival gang has already made their mark upon upon, crossing out the names of enemies they have killed, or simply covering up the rival graffiti.[1]
With this being said, most graffiti is non gang related and is purely street art. Gangland "tagging," however, was recently popularized in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a sort of side quest that the player can do to unlock special weapons.
Hand signs
"Throwing up" a gang sign (or "Stacking") with the hands is one of the most known and obvious forms of "claiming." It is used in many situations where other identifiers may not be possible or appropriate, and can also show that a gang member is in the area to "do business" as opposed to just passing through. Usually these signs are made by formation of the fingers on one or both hands to make some sort of symbol or letter.[2] It can also serve to relay more specific information, such as what set they represent within a larger gang or in which activities they are currently taking part. Individual letters can be used to tell stories when flashed in rapid succession, each representing a word beginning with that letter. These signs, because they are displayed only when wanted (as opposed to the types of identifiers above) are usually the most consistent across various areas. Many of these hand signals are quite close to other common hand signs, and this can cause confusion amongst gang members, non-gang members, and anti-gang authorities. Stacking is also known as a walk.
Another identifier that can be displayed only when desired is a gang handshake, which usually includes some component of the gang hand signs and/or other symbols.[3]
Verbalizations
In addition, some gangs have verbal calls which they use to denote their affiliation, or provoke members of other gangs. For example, in New York City (specifically Brooklyn and Queens) members of the Bloods make a trilled sound mimicking a machine gun using the letter 'B,' 'Brat,' and, likewise, the Crips do the same using the letter 'C,' 'Crat,' usually to antagonize others or to assert dominance. Fellow Crips will refer to each other as Cuzz, and likewise fellow bloods will refer to each other as Blood (eg. Whutup Cuzz, Whutup Blood). Crips refer to Bloods as slobs (spelled Slobks because of the backcronym of BK, meaning Blood Killa) and Bloods refer to Crips as crabs or dribs.[4]