EL PASO -- Multi-layered and often confusing codes allegedly used by Barrio Azteca gang leaders in prison to communicate with gang members in the streets form a cornerstone of one of the largest gangland trials in El Paso currently under way in U.S. District Court.
Prosecutors allege in a federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization, or RICO, case that members of the gang conspired to raise money for capos, or leaders, in prison by extorting street-level drug dealers in El Paso with "quotas" on drug sales.

"They all have to be kept in codes. So officers, the law, the man, won't be able to figure out what you are saying," testified Johnny "Conejo" Michelletti, a former soldier in the Barrio Azteca turned government witness.

Testimony by former Aztecas and investigators shined a light into a complex communication system in which suspected capos in maximum-security prisons were allegedly able to issue orders on the street through the gang's paramilitary hierarchy.

The trial for six accused gang leaders, members and an associate continues Monday before U.S. District Judge David Briones.

Code words used in letters and conversations were in English, Spanish, Spanglish and even Nahuatl, the Aztec language, all in an attempt to throw off "G.I.s" or gang investigators.

Former Azteca sergeant Gerardo Hernandez testified the organization trained members to read and write in gang slang.

"I was taught that," Hernandez said. He said the gang called the instruction of the coded language "escuela," Spanish for school.
Hernandez said that letters or wilas are passed along by inmates and occasionally by corrections officers while he was incarcerated in a facility in Otero County.

"Almost every day we would get letters from the whole (prison) system," Hernandez said.

To the untrained, the messages could be a nonsensical collection of words.

FBI Special Agent Samantha Mikeska, who led the Barrio Azteca investigation, testified that over several years she has kept a list of coded words and their meanings to better understand the gang's language.

"It would be difficult to know the meaning of a letter without a code sheet," she said.

Her glossary has continued to grow throughout the trial, which has lasted more than two weeks.

In code, Aztecas were identified by variations of their nickname, the street they lived on, prison identification number or occupation, witnesses testified.

For example, suspected gang capo Carlos Perea, nicknamed "Shotgun," was also allegedly identified as escopeta (shotgun), 12-gauge and doce, Spanish for 12, witnesses testified.

Various words stood for numbers. For example, one sentence used the words asesino (assassin), cuaderno (notebook) and nariz (nose), which meant $1,400, Andres Sanchez, an El Paso police gang investigator, testified. Translated -- asesino refers to ace meaning one, cuaderno similar to quad meaning four and nariz for nada or zero. Also, bufalo, as in a buffalo nickel, means five.

Vivek Grover, lawyer for suspected capo Manuel Cardoza, argued that just because a letter may be in code or was requesting money be placed in a prison account does not make it illegal.

"There is nothing to indicate where the source of that money will be," Grover said in court.

Prosecutors allege the source of the money was quotas, also known as taxes and rentas, extorted from "tiendas," slang for drug dealers.

With coded messages, prosecutors also claim that slayings could be ordered from prison cells hundreds of miles away.

Sanchez, the gang investigator, and Perea's lawyer Gary Weiser debated in court the meaning of "Tony Lama."

Weiser said Tony Lama referred to someone getting the boot or kicked out of the gang. Sanchez said it means murder. The debate was related to a letter that supposedly threatened the life of reputed capo David "Chicho" Meraz, who was slain last March in Juárez.

Meraz, who had apparently fled across the border, was allegedly involved in a power struggle years ago with Miguel Angel "Angelillo" Esqueda over who would run Barrio Azteca's operations in El Paso, according to testimony.

"Attempts were made to warn David Meraz," Sanchez said. "... We could not locate him."

Glossary of terms
Term - Meaning
Abarrotes - The Spanish term for groceries is code for drugs.
Aboga - Short for abogado, Spanish for lawyer.
Black and white - An official document that gang members obtain as part of an internal investigation into whether a person is an informant.
Capos - Gang leaders that issue orders to lieutenants and sergeants.
Capo Mayor - The gang leader. Position is selected and transferred among capos based on who has the best lines of communication.
Cazuela - A criminal case.
Cellie - Cellmate.
Charola - Jail commissary accounts to which funds are added. Word is Spanish for tray.
Green-light, luz verde - Authorized assaults or murders.
calentados, aguacate (avocado)
Familia (family) - The gang.
EPT - El Paso, Texas.
Esquinas - Associates who back up the gang.
Lieutenants - Maintain discipline and run a specific area.
Muleta (crutch) - Former member of the gang.
Prospectos - Prospective gang members.
Puentes or bridges - Go-betweens, messengers who pass wilas from one member to another.
Put ice cubes in your drink - Cool it, lay low.
Sargentos (sergeants) - Collect taxes and recruit.
Soldados or carnales - Foot soldiers. Carry out gang missions.
Taxes, quotas or rentas - Extortion fees charged to street-level drug dealers.
Tienda (store) - A drug seller.

Glossary of terms
A sampling of various terms and codes used by Barrio Azteca.
Term - Meaning
Bufalo - The number five as in a buffalo nickel.
G.I.s - Law enforcement gang intelligence officers.
Huaraches - Refers to gaining gang membership, or one's "walking shoes" in the gang.
Indios - Members of the gang.
Lowrider - The gang.
Misa (Mass) - A gang meeting.
Molé - Family.
7-Eleven - A drug dealer.
Tony Lama - A debated term that means to kick out of the gang or murder.
Wilas or kites - Coded letters from prison.
XXI or 21 - Stands for BA, the second and first letters of the alphabet.
Source: Testimony by former gang members and law enforcement.