Drug Trade’s Lingo Plays Role in Murder Trial : Courts: Prosecutors say code words were used by members of the alleged Bryant family in their cocaine transactions. Defense attorneys dismiss the assertion.

Who or what is Yolanda Powder? What about Ruck? Renita?

Prosecutors in an ongoing quadruple murder trial in Downtown Los Angeles contend those are but a few of the code words for drug transactions used by the Bryant family, the alleged multimillion-dollar cocaine syndicate based in Pacoima.

The codes changed frequently, prosecutors allege, to dupe informants or undercover narcotics detectives. The defense asserts that it’s mere gibberish.

Alleged family leader Stanley Bryant, as well as “employees” LeRoy Wheeler, Donald Franklin Smith and Jon Preston Settle, are on trial for the Aug. 28, 1988, murders of four people including a woman and toddler at a Bryant-owned crack house in Lake View Terrace.

The trial, now entering its third month, has offered a glimpse into a drug-dealing underworld, complete with colorful, surprisingly mild, nicknames--Ant Man, Peanut Head and Jay Baby, to name a few. Like other sophisticated crime rings, they adopted their own specialized language. Sometimes the family dialect has been deliberately oblique. Sometimes, it is marvelously simple.

Wheeler, for example, described the Bryant family on the witness stand last week as an organization “like one big circle with a whole lot of little circles inside,” as he conceded its purpose was the drug trade. But he denied shooting anyone--particularly Loretha Anderson and her 2-year-old daughter, Chemise English--and he also resisted Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin McCormick’s questions about any family lingo.

For instance, asked by McCormick what “up here” meant, Wheeler replied, “I haven’t the slightest idea.”

According to earlier police testimony, the code was spelled out, literally, on a slip of paper found in a briefcase belonging to Bryant (also known as Peanut Head). It said:

“Rob=Boy; Ruck=package; Filmore Park=up here; Handsome (sic) dam=Down there; Alvin=Girl; Renita=tar; Yolanda=powder; House= Number of Rucks.”

Renita was the code word for tar heroin, a less refined form of the narcotic. Yolanda meant powdered cocaine (versus rock cocaine, the alleged Bryant family specialty). Filmore Park and Hansen Dam were popular locations for drug deals, a police detective told the jury.

Under McCormick’s cross-examination, Wheeler professed ignorance in a series of exchanges that were almost comical:

McCormick: Who or what is Renita?

Wheeler: More than likely, that’s someone’s name.

Q: So someone is named Renita Tar?

A: No, Renita is probably someone’s name.

And, later:

Q: What about Yolanda?

A: I don’t know who’s Yolanda.

Q: Do you know someone whose name is Yolanda Powder?

A: No, sir.

Wheeler’s own moniker--”Slim”--has become central to his defense since prosecution witnesses have identified him as the tall man who shot Anderson and her child as they sat in a parked car, waiting for fellow shooting victims Andre Armstrong and James Brown. The two men, alleged rival dealers, were gunned down in a metal security cage at the front entrance of the crack house.

Wheeler contends he was misidentified and that the prosecution’s star witness, James Franklin Williams IV, also known as “Jay Baby,” was the shooter.

Wheeler has worn preppy, crew-neck sweaters, cotton turtlenecks, and khaki pants to court during the trial. His wire-frame eyeglasses give him a scholarly appearance.

But as he testified, Wheeler couldn’t hide the pride in his voice as he described his former lifestyle as a Bryant family operative. He was 19, wore gold chains thick as fingers, and drove a freshly painted, pearl white Audi just like Stanley Bryant’s. He also had a cellular phone, a beeper, and $75,000 in cash stashed in the trunk of his other car--a Mustang he called his “safe.”

McCormick questioned him about his scrapbook, a photo album that showed beepers, stacks of cash and piles of gold chains. Wheeler said he took that picture for a rap album that was never produced. Another photo showed Wheeler wearing a crown atop his shaved head and heavy gold chains around his neck. In his hands were huge wads of bills--$2,500 given to him by friends and family associates, he told the jury.

The first of the four Bryant family murder defendants to take the witness stand in his own defense, Wheeler testified that he “didn’t have anything to do with these horrible crimes.”

Wheeler also contended it was prosecution witness Williams--not he--who was the ranking member of the Bryant family. It was Williams who trained him. It was Williams--not he--who pulled the trigger.

“Mr. Williams, he was like the enforcer,” Wheeler told the jury. “He would enforce the law for the organization, you know. Like if somebody needed to be dealt with, he would deal with it.”

At one point during cross-examination, McCormick asked an often smirking Wheeler if he found the proceedings funny.

“Not at all, sir,” Wheeler said.

“I notice you were laughing during a lot of your testimony,” McCormick persisted.

“Probably to keep me from crying,” Wheeler shot back. “It just hurts that much. I really don’t want--I don’t want to sit up here and cry about nothing.”