Tattoos

Seven deputies from the Los Angeles County sheriff's gang unit have been placed on leave on suspicion that they belong to a secret clique that celebrates shootings and brands its members with matching tattoos, sources confirmed. The move is a sign of the intensifying nature of the investigation of the "Jump Out Boys. " Suspicion about the group's existence was sparked several weeks ago when a supervisor found a pamphlet describing the group's creed, which promoted aggressive policing and portrayed officer shootings in a positive light.

Seven deputies from the Los Angeles County sheriff's gang unit have been placed on leave on suspicion that they belong to a secret clique that celebrates shootings and brands its members with matching tattoos, sources confirmed. The move is a sign of the intensifying nature of the investigation of the "Jump Out Boys. " Suspicion about the group's existence was sparked several weeks ago when a supervisor found a pamphlet describing the group's creed, which promoted aggressive policing and portrayed officer shootings in a positive light.

Tattoo artist Kari Barba won't do satanic or drug-related symbols. Also off-limits are drunken sailors, young teens and anybody with a bad attitude. "I won't take the responsibility of putting something stupid on somebody's skin," said Barba, who at age 30 is considered a master among American tattooists. "A part of me goes onto somebody's skin forever. I don't want them waking up years from now cursing me."

The investigation into a secret clique within the Los Angeles County sheriff's elite gang unit has uncovered allegations that members had matching tattoos of a gun-toting skeleton, which deputies would modify to celebrate their involvement in a shooting, according to sources close to the internal probe. One deputy, who has admitted belonging to a clique called the "Jump Out Boys," has identified about half a dozen other deputies as members, one source confirmed. Those men are expected to be summoned for interviews with internal affairs investigators, the source said.

Newlyweds Mike and Carlinda Atkinson are art aficionados who have slowly built an impressive collection. Their tastes differ -- Mike prefers vivid depictions of sea life, Carlinda likes spiritual Native American scenes -- but they like to search out new pieces together and show off the work they always keep on hand -- well, more like on foot, thigh, back, arm and stomach.

Michael Voltaggio has no idea how many tattoos he has. The question makes him laugh. The wise-cracking 33-year-old chef is pretty well covered. The name of his restaurant, after all, is Ink. Before dinner service on a recent Friday, Voltaggio plays around with an insulated bucket of liquid nitrogen, dipping his hand in it and tossing the residue on the floor where it morphs, CGI-like, into little rolling marbles of chemistry before dissolving into wisps...

He wears his heart under his sleeve. You want to understand Reeves Nelson, the brooding UCLA star whose scoring, rebounding and scowling must carry the Bruins through March? He won't bare his soul, but he'll reveal his left arm, which is covered in more than a dozen tattoos that tell the story of a 19-year-old life marked by torment and triumph. "The tattoos remind me who I am," he says Tuesday, pulling off his zippered Bruins jacket. "You want to see them?" Yes, I say, because that is probably the best chance any outsider would have of actually knowing Nelson, who strolls through campus with his deep-set eyes staring at the sidewalk from beneath his prominent brow, his music drowning out your perception.

I read "The Secret Society Among Lawmen" (March 24) with interest. I am a law enforcement supervisor with 23 years on the job and still working "the street." I think I am probably more in touch with young line officers than the senior management quoted. In your article tattoos are given a sinister meaning that is out of touch with today's realities. Using the presence of tattooing by young deputies as evidence of secret societies without more explanation about tattoos is unfair. I supervise young police officers and notice that many of them, as well as many young adults, have tattoos.

In his column on tattoos, Dan Neil stated, "I worry the tattoo craze is part of something bigger, a sort of fatalism that keeps people from imagining the future because, somehow, they expect not to see it" ("Britney Forever," 800 Words, Aug. 14). This opinion would be more appropriate in relation to reality television and Social Security, not the desire to possess an eternal work of art. The bigger picture will never be overshadowed by even the largest tattoo. Christopher Rodriguez South Pasadena

Michael Hartley got his first tattoo when he turned 18 and has been hooked on body ink ever since. He now has eight tattoos, including a shamrock on his right triceps and tropical flowers and bamboo shoots that wind down his left forearm. He has tattoos on each arm, his left leg, back and side. In a nation in which tattoos have become increasingly popular -- a 2003 survey found one in six U.S. adults was inked -- Hartley's work would hardly raise an eyebrow.

Michael Voltaggio has no idea how many tattoos he has. The question makes him laugh. The wise-cracking 33-year-old chef is pretty well covered. The name of his restaurant, after all, is Ink. Before dinner service on a recent Friday, Voltaggio plays around with an insulated bucket of liquid nitrogen, dipping his hand in it and tossing the residue on the floor where it morphs, CGI-like, into little rolling marbles of chemistry before dissolving into wisps...

For nine years the "teardrop" rapist was one of Los Angeles' most prolific serial predators, preying on women from Melrose Avenue to Manchester Boulevard. The assailant, sometimes described as having a teardrop tattoo below one of his eyes, targeted girls and women walking alone in the early-morning hours. He would force them into a secluded area at the point of a gun or knife before raping or sexually assaulting them. There were 27 reported rapes or attempted assaults between 1996 and 2005.

The Angry Buddhist A Novel Seth Greenland Europa Editions: 400 pp., $16 paper Seth Greenland's "The Angry Buddhist" begins with two sexy American women getting matching tattoos in Puerto Vallarta - and then it swiftly jumps forward into the madcap final week of a congressional race out in the desert around Palm Springs. The incumbent, a wily and infinitely pragmatic political sleazebag named Randall Duke, finds himself facing a new kind of problem, namely, an opponent who might actually defeat him. Her name is Mary Swain, and here she is, observed at a rally by the angry Buddhist of the title, one of Randall's brothers, the busted cop called Jimmy Ray Duke: "She glides to the microphone and Jimmy notes the burnished skin, the blinding smile, the five hundred dollars' worth of blond highlights, fitted red blouse set off against the matching white linen skin and jacket that wraps her like cellophane.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has taken back full control of its legendary film label United Artists, is booking a loss on its recent release "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and has added a top TV executive to its board of directors, the independent studio revealed in financial filings this week. Formed in 1919 by film luminaries including Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, UA became part of MGM in 1981. In 2006, UA became a joint venture between MGM and Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner, who together got 30% of the company.

Nokia Corp. is taking steps to make sure that you never miss another phone call, text or email alert again: The company has filed a patent for a tattoo that would send "a perceivable impulse" to your skin whenever someone tries to contact you on the phone. According to the patent filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the phone would communicate with the tattoo through magnetic waves. The phone would emit magnetic waves and the tattoo would act as a receiver. When the waves hit the tattoo, it would set off a tactile response in the user's skin.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $40.99 Director David Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian adapt Stieg Larsson's bestseller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" into a sophisticated and gripping thriller, sporting excellent lead performances by Daniel Craig as a disgraced reporter and Rooney Mara as a punk hacker. Larsson's story of a gruesome missing-person's case is gratuitously violent at times, and the film runs a little too long — in large part because it goes through about four endings before finally lurching to a stop.

Re "LAFD tattoo coverup muddles real mission," Column, June 21 Los Angeles Fire Department brass and our union have haggled for many years over tattoos and other issues. But if a fire engine stopped in front of your burning home, you would see little or nothing on any of the firefighters to tell what race or sex they are, let alone the tattoos they may have. All you would see is well-covered bodies working to save lives and property belonging to someone they don't know. But if a firefighter visits the school of Sandy Banks' young daughter, does he have her full attention as she wonders whether his tattoos are a tribute to family, fallen firefighters or an off-duty lifestyle?

Stop and think before undergoing the needle, say experts. * Meet with an artist before getting any work done, suggests Craig Jackman, manager of Skinworks in Balboa. Make sure sanitary conditions prevail. * Be sober. Jackson says inebriated people are turned away at his salon. These are no longer the days of waking up with some strange name on your arm. * Decide on your design in advance. "A tattoo is art. The canvas is your body.

It's fun having two great basketball teams in town, right? More circus dunks (go Griffin!). More double-doubles (go Gasol!). And we can only hope, more retro-cool name changes (go Metta World Peace!). But as a fickle armchair fan who learned what little I know about the game from my kids' coaches, I face a dilemma: Who to throw in with, Clippers or Lakers? For the past two decades, the decision was easy: If you liked fat chances and underdogs, you followed the Clippers. If your taste was for dominance, dynasties or thumbing your nose at L.A. haters, the Lakers were your team.