charged were Sticks, Face, Tink, Pudge, Fat Boy, Slinky, Big Boy, Big Man, Gotti, Mud, Wimp, Nitty and Zitty.

word "murder" tattooed across his neck. Or trying to convince a jury that the suspect is really a good guy even though his best friend knows him only as "Bloody Batman."

With gangs gaining strength in Baltimore, nicknames are gaining popularity on the street, and more often than not it's a nickname rather than a real name by which many are known. And law enforcement authorities, especially the feds, don't hesitate to use the monikers.

Here's a sample from one recent indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore: charged were Sticks, Face, Tink, Pudge, Fat Boy, Slinky, Big Boy, Big Man, Gotti, Mud, Wimp, Nitty and Zitty.

The Baltimore Sun's Tricia Bishop wrote about gang nicknames last year, and the list of new ones keeps growing. More and more, defense attorneys and prosecutors say, the nicknames reflect violence rather than a personality trait or physical characteristic.

In the past, Baltimore had "Peanut King." Now, "Murder" and "Killer" are becoming more common as nicknames, not to mention "Savage" and various forms of the word "bloody." Young men tattoo the names to their necks and arms, or ink teardrops under their eyes, one for each person they've killed.

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