Caló is also the name of a Spanish Romani (Gypsy) dialect. When these speakers came over during the colonization of Mexico, they brought their version of Caló. The dialect eventually mixed with indigenous languages and was brought to the other side of the border, to today’s Southwest, where it was mixed with English.

At the heart of this story lies an unsolved murder. On August 1, 1942, a 22-year-old Mexican American man was stabbed to death at a party. To white Los Angelenos, the murder was just more proof that Mexican American crime was spiraling out of control. The police fanned out across LA, netting 600 young Mexican American suspects. Almost all those taken into custody were wearing the distinctive uniform of their generation: zoot-suits.