ALTERNATE NAMES: White Aryan Resistance (gang)
Group Status: Active
White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a large, Arkansas-based white supremacist prison gang. They borrowed their name from California white supremacist Tom Metzger, who invented it in the 1980s for his own group. The main symbol of the Arkansas gang is an elaborate pyramid tattoo divided into nine "bricks." Gang members are allowed to fill in the "bricks" of the tattoo with rank symbols as they achieve them. One "brick" also usually contains the runic lettering for "skinhead" and the numeric symbol 14/88.
Outside the pyramid, the WAR tattoo features the initials WAR, each letter accompanied by swastikas. Runic letters for "WAR", SS lightning bolts, and the numeric symbol 14/88 will often appear below the pyramid.