Federal court records state that the Bloods formed in Los Angeles in the 1970s and that the United Blood Nation was created on Rikers Island, New York, in 1993. In South Carolina, federal and state prosecutors have charged members of UBN-lineage sets including the Gangsta Killer Bloods/G-Shine, Billie East Side Bloods and Nine Trey Gangsters, along with Piru sets such as Elm Street Piru and Fruit Town Piru. Bloods sets also appear in public reporting on South Carolina prisons, including the 2018 Lee Correctional Institution riot. [1][2][3][4][5]
Origins
A 2017 federal indictment in North Carolina alleges that the Bloods formed in the 1970s in Los Angeles, California, when seven street gangs united. The same release states that the United Blood Nation (UBN) was created in 1993 on the east side of Rikers Island Prison in New York. Federal prosecutors in North Carolina described the UBN in 2018 as a street gang operating along the East Coast since its founding as a prison gang in 1993. [1][6][7]
The U.S. Attorney's Office for South Carolina stated on 2018-12-18 that G-Shine, formerly the Gangster Killer Bloods, evolved from the UBN in the late 1990s, originated in the New York/New Jersey area and migrated along the East Coast. Evidence at a 2014 Columbia trial showed that James Powell, a/k/a Munchie, came to Columbia from New York and began initiating young men into the Gangsta Killa Blood (GKB) set in 1998 or 1999. [2][8]
Footprint in South Carolina
Federal releases place UBN-lineage sets in Richland County (GKB, Columbia), Horry County (G-Shine and its Shine Money Gang sub-set in Longs), and the Florence, Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas (Billie East Side Bloods). [9][2][3][10]
A 2012 federal RICO indictment in Columbia charged UBN members, and the release states that the other defendants were residents or natives of the Columbia area. The South Carolina Attorney General announced indictments on 2018-05-03 of alleged Bloods members in Richland, Lexington and Newberry counties, including a drive-by shooting at a Lexington County school bus stop. [11][12]
A Columbia man was sentenced on 2017-08-23 to 85 months after a Kershaw County arrest; the federal release states that his rap sheet documented Bloods membership. Fourth Circuit and South Carolina Supreme Court opinions record Bloods activity in Dillon County (2010) and Richland County (2006). [13][14][15]
Structure and organization
The 2017 North Carolina indictment describes a typical Nine Trey Gangsters structure with a Godfather at the top, followed by ranked Generals and unranked Soldiers or Scraps. The defendants in that case included men listed as residents of Myrtle Beach and Columbia, South Carolina. Federal prosecutors stated on 2018-10-23 that Nine Trey Godfather Gutierrez had served since 2003 as Chairman of the council that governs the UBN. In the related case, 35 members and associates pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, according to a 2018-03-12 Justice Department release. [1][6][7]
Identifiers and symbols
In State v. Price (S.C. 2006), the evidence included a pledge of allegiance to the United Blood Nation. In United States v. Wright (4th Cir. 2010), a Dillon County case, the court recorded that a victim's red bandana and red hat marked him as a member of the rival Bloods gang. [15][14]
Notable South Carolina cases
The USAO-SC described the GKB on 2008-04-29 as a local chapter of the United Blood Nation when six Columbia members were sentenced. The Columbia Bloods investigation ended in a life sentence, according to a 2014-06-06 release. [9][8]
On 2017-02-23 federal indictments were unsealed against 13 defendants after an investigation of the Billie East Side Bloods, a UBN set. On 2018-03-07 two Billies East Side Bloods members were sentenced in Florence; prosecutors stated that one transported stolen firearms to New York. [3][10]
On 2018-12-18, 24 people were arrested in Myrtle Beach and Horry County in a federal wiretap investigation of G-Shine and its Shine Money Gang sub-set. All 33 defendants in the G-Shine/SMG case had pleaded guilty by 2019-08-15. A 2020-12-02 release links Operation Silver Sunset (2017, Billy Bloods) and Operation Rise and Shine (2018, G-Shine/SMG) to a further 26 charged defendants. [2][16][17]
Piru sets have a separate record. On 2017-11-21 five Elm Street Piru Bloods members from Greenville, Piedmont, Florence and Bishopville were indicted for conspiracy to murder a state witness, and on 2018-12-07 a federal jury convicted Greenville resident Brian Lewis, described as the South Carolina leader of the gang. In North Charleston, the FBI investigated the Fruit Town Piru, described as a sect of the Bloods, in a case that produced 26 indictments announced on 2026-05-20. [4][18][19]
Inside SCDC
The Post and Courier reported in November 2019 that sets inside South Carolina prisons have their own names and lineups, citing the Bloods' G-Shine, GKB and Sex Money Murder groups. At a 2023 trial over the 2018-04-15 Lee Correctional Institution riot, the prosecutor stated that Bloods killed Crips in the F-3 dorm, Crips in F-5 retaliated, and Bloods in F-1 saw the attack on social media through contraband cellphones. On 2026-09-24 another inmate was convicted on all counts tied to the riot; the prosecutor said his group attacked the Bloods. [20][5][21]
Current status
A 2024-01-29 federal release describes a Horry County multi-agency operation that targeted the Rollin' 90s Crips, G-Shine Bloods and Gangster Disciples. The Post and Courier reported that 10 Blood gang members were arrested in the Longs area in a 2026-09-30 joint operation with SLED. [22][23]
The South Carolina Attorney General announced state grand jury indictments on 2026-08-24 in a Charleston-area drug case whose targets had associations to Piru Bloods and other groups. In Greenville, a man was sentenced on 2026-09-25 over a shooting at a cookout a Bloods sect held for Bloods Hood Day. [24][25]
