Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a police informer.

1967

P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 245: He had turned chota on me.

2. the police.

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1974		Fuentes & Lopez Barrio Lang. Dict.
1993		L. Rodríguez Always Running (1996) 208: The chota will come down hard, but we’re going to make sure nobody gets popped.
2007		Lil Rob ‘Get High’ 🎵 Watchin’ out for the chota, cause they can’t have my mota.

3. (US prison) a prison guard.

1998

Austin American-Statesman (TX) 4 Oct. 9/4: Texas Prison Gang Slang [...] Chota: [...] guard.