For Gangs, Tattoos are out....College Look is in...!!!!

Before and After

CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala (AP) - Tattoos, baggy pants and tank tops are out. Smart blazers and university recruits are in.

It's an extreme makeover for Central America's gangs. Facing harsh crackdowns by government security forces and citizen vigilante groups, they are trying to lower their profile.

The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are known throughout Central America and the U.S. for their brazen tactics, including beheading their enemies and covering entire buildings and even their bodies with gang symbols.

Now, according to anti-gang operatives, these traditionally uneducated and aimless youth have begun recruiting high school and college students, and are expanding their criminal repertoire from minor robbery to large-scale extortion, prostitution, car theft and kidnappings.

"These days we can't even go out onto the street, where the police look at us and we end up dead," said Giovanni Estrada, 25, an imprisoned gang member with tattooed face who goes by the nickname of "Little Crazy." "That's why we tell (new gang members) not to paint their faces." The gangs' increasingly lucrative pursuits have attracted high school and college students looking to make a buck. It's a breed apart from the dropouts and other gang members whose main aim was a need to belong.