Nickname Data Help D.C. Police Pursue Criminals

A nickname is often the only lead in a case.

"The majority of the time, our informant doesn't know the real name; they know the street name," said Capt. Mario Patrizio of the D.C police detectives division. "They'll say, 'I saw Jo-Jo on the corner the other day.' "

The man known as Head had been in jail since May 2006, police said. He was awaiting trial on a murder charge in the stabbing of a man near Club U, a Northwest Washington nightclub, in September 2004. He also had been arrested several times on gun and drug charges, so detectives were able to mine the database to confirm that he was known on the street as Head.

They pursued the investigation and got a warrant to charge Israel in the other killings. Police said he killed Pierre D. Johnson, 22, on Oct. 10, 2004, and Norman Jenkins, 20, on Dec. 1, 2005. He also is suspected of opening fire Dec. 9, 2005, on a group of people, hitting five and killing Anthony Blount, 24, and Joshua Gregory, 21.

Israel, who has pleaded not guilty to all of the murder charges, has a hearing in October in D.C. Superior Court. Detectives said they don't know how he got his street name.

Sometimes, investigators said, people use nicknames of affection given to them in childhood by friends and family. Other times, they use the monikers to hide their identity or exaggerate their toughness on the street -- names such as Mean Dog, Hustler, King Pin and Killer are in the police database.

Terri Adams-Fuller, a Howard University criminologist who teaches sociology, said she sees similarities in the street gangster and organized crime cultures.

"The whole sense that this family trumps all other kinds of families," Adams-Fuller said. "It's using a criminal enterprise to state your identification."

Such was the case in the 2004 killing of 14-year-old Jahkema "Princess" Hansen, who was a witness in an upcoming murder trial. The men convicted of shooting her in a D.C. housing complex were Marquette Ward, known as Corleone, for the Mafia family portrayed in the "Godfather" films, and Franklin Thompson, who was called Frank Nitti, for the feared accomplice of Al Capone.

Adams-Fuller said it's common for people to get nicknames as children that they keep their whole lives, even as criminals.

"When people start getting involved in criminal enterprise, it takes on a whole different persona. It's not what their mother and father call them," Adams-Fuller said. "It gives them street credibility. You become a name; you're larger than what you were before."

Nicknames and tattoos also are a central part of gang life.

The Post reviewed 4,000 street names collected by the police department from June 2004 to May 2007. Many entries are common names, such as Mike, Joe and Chris. Others are more distinct, including Dr. Tooth, Iron Maiden, Island Hippie, Orange Crush and Mr. Piggy.

A few nicknames surface often: There are 25 Fats, two Fattys, two Fatboys, one Fat Fat and two Fat Daddys. There are 22 entries for Black, one for Black Elvis, three for Black Jesus and one for Black Rose.

The suspects sometimes give up the names that ultimately lead to their jailing.

For instance, in the case of Country, police sent an undercover officer into a Northeast Washington store to buy $70 worth of heroin in winter 2006, according to police documents. As the officer bought the drugs in the 600 block of Division Avenue, the man who sold it to her introduced himself as Country.

Police soon figured out that Country was Anthony Yelverton, 35, who had a history of heroin arrests. They arrested him. He was convicted of distributing the drug.

Staff researcher Dan Keating contributed to this report.