Tattoos tell a tale of intimidation

It's the most distinguishing feature of Curtis Allgier, the one that makes him stand out in a crowd.

Allgier's face is heavily covered with tattoos — so many that it almost appears from a distance that he's wearing a mesh mask over his pale white skin. And some police agencies say his face is just the start of an extensively tattooed body.

Allgier, a white supremacist, is accused of killing 60-year-old corrections officer Stephen Anderson on Monday inside a medical exam room at University of Utah Hospital's Orthopaedic Center.

Tattoos that cover a person from literally head to toe are a common characteristic of skinheads, white supremacists or Aryan Nation gangs. Although the only one who ever knows exactly what each individual tattoo means is the person who is wearing them, law enforcers say the general purpose for such extensive ink work is intimidation.

"They're sending a message. They want you to know they're hardcore (into their beliefs). They're 100 percent," said Ogden Police Lt. Loring Draper with the Ogden Metro Gang Unit and an expert on white supremacist gangs. "They primarily do it for shock value ... mostly so they can look at people like they're bad or mean."

Some tattoos are common among skinheads, such as:

• Two lightning bolts or SS bolts like those worn by soldiers in Nazi Germany.

•The numbers "14-88," with 14 standing for the 14 words white supremacists use as their oath, and 88, or 8, standing for the eighth letter of the alphabet, "H." Two "Hs" together stand for Heil Hitler.

•Swastikas from Nazi Germany.

•The number "187," or the California penal code for homicide.

Other common tats among white supremacists include that individual's moniker, where they're from, teardrops and spider webs, skeletons and "memory patches" — tattoos in tribute to other fallen gang members.

In some white supremacist gangs, members must earn a tattoo, or "patch," and cannot randomly select a tattoo, Draper said. Two of the largest Aryan culture gangs, Soldiers of Aryan Culture (SAC) and Silent Aryan Warriors (SAW), have special patches for certain accomplishments, he said.

The lightning bolts, for example, are generally for those who cause harm to other people. If the bolts are colored in, it usually signifies the wearer committed a stabbing or very violent crime.