Terrance Richardson is a bad dude, according to federal agents. He's accused of being a Baltimore Bloods gang leader and ordering beatings and murders from jail while awaiting trial on 2008 gun charges. Since then, he's added racketeering and drug distribution to his alleged federal crimes.
So, what do most people call him?
"Squeaky."
Naturally.
Street nicknames, many of which were given during childhood, are the main means of identification among gang members of every level, from the neighborhood drug operations to the big, bad Bloods. And they're often ridiculous, even though the people bearing them are deadly serious.
Richardson's most recent indictment, handed up in May, reads like a character list from a Disney film. Among his 22 co-defendants (most of whom, including Richardson, have pleaded not guilty), there's "Smurf," "Cakes," "Jazzy," "Paperboy" and "Looney Reds."
But, there's also "Savage," "Nosebleed," "Murder" and "Bloody Rush."
"If a guy is called 'AK man,' as opposed to 'Captain Crunchy,' it can add to their street level [credentials], street props and things like that," said Steve Nawojczyk, a former Arkansas coroner who was featured in an HBO "Gang War" documentary and a co-producer of its sequel.
The names are used to boost reputations, preserve anonymity, breed familiarity and hide. They can be changed at will. Darnell Fields, for example, was once best known as "Pooh." But after several years in jail on pending murder and assault charges, he's renamed himself "Gotti." (A trial for him and his co-defendant, Clayton "Coco" Colkley, was postponed Thursday until October.)
Prosecutors list the nicknames on indictments because they are often the only way other supposed criminals, witnesses and friends know the defendant, said Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein. And the names are mentioned during trials so jurors know who witnesses are talking about.
Law enforcement officers usually learn the nicknames, sometimes through graffiti throughout the city, even before the real names.
"That's how we track [suspects] down," said David Brown, a special agent with the Baltimore division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and group supervisor of the Violent Crimes Impact Team, which led the recent investigation and arrests in the Richardson case.
