White supremacist groups · prison
The Ghostface Gangsters are a whites-only prison gang that federal prosecutors say formed in 2000 in the Cobb County, Georgia jail system. Its documented South Carolina footprint in public sources is limited to eight Aiken County residents charged in Georgia's 2021 Operation Kibosh and two 2023 federal fugitives reported to have South Carolina ties. [1][2][3]
A 2018 federal indictment describes the Ghostface Gangsters (GFG) as a whites-only prison gang formed in 2000 in the Cobb County, Georgia jail system. The Department of Justice stated on 2018-03-06 that its membership was estimated in the thousands throughout Georgia. [1]
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia stated on 2018-03-06 that the gang had spread through Georgia jails, prisons and beyond. A 2023-01-13 Augusta Press report describes it as founded within the Georgia prison system. [4][5]
The Aiken Standard reported on 2021-07-30 that eight Aiken County residents were charged on 2021-07-23 in Operation Kibosh, a Ghostface Gangsters investigation led by the Richmond County (Georgia) Sheriff's Office. Six were arrested and two remained wanted; the residents were tied to Aiken, North Augusta and Graniteville. [2]
The same report states that every listed Aiken County defendant faced a racketeering (RICO) charge, with other charges including drug possession, kidnapping and aggravated assault. The Aiken County Sheriff's Office, North Augusta Department of Public Safety and Aiken Department of Public Safety supplied incident reports. [2]
WRDW reported on 2021-07-23 that 87 people were indicted in the Richmond County case and police placed 77 of them in the Ghostface Gangsters. Its I-Team report that day, datelined Aiken County, S.C., stated that many of the indicted names appeared in earlier crime reports on both sides of the Savannah River. [6][7]
On 2023-01-31, WCIV reported that FBI officials sought David Young and Michael Provenzano, both charged in a 76-defendant Ghost Face Gangsters drug conspiracy in south Georgia, and that both had South Carolina ties. The report does not name a South Carolina city or county. [3]
According to the 2018 indictment, leadership positions include the founding Pillars, those with a seat at the table, a First Lady and statewide positions of governance. Members follow written gang literature and used contraband cell phones to run criminal activity from inside prisons. [1]
The Northern District of Georgia stated on 2022-08-31 that GFG has seven founding members called pillars and that every member traces a bloodline to one of them. Pillar Jeffrey Alan Bourassa pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy on 2022-08-25. [8]
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Georgia stated that the Operation Ghost Busted network operated inside and outside Georgia prisons, with GFG members working alongside Aryan Brotherhood, Bloods and Gangster Disciples affiliates. The Aiken Standard reported that police described the gang as made up mostly of white supremacists and Gangster Disciple affiliates. [9][2]
A 2019-03-06 Southern District of Georgia release states that one defendant who admitted being a GFG capo had horns tattooed on his head, a G on his neck and Vanilla Gorilla on his chest. A 2025-02-14 release states that fugitive David D. Young was identified through his Ghost Face Gangsters facial tattoos. [10][11]
The 2018 and 2022 federal releases describe members cutting GFG tattoos off other members as punishment for violating gang rules. These sources describe individual defendants and do not set out a standard identifier list. [1][8]
Operation Kibosh was a Georgia state prosecution in Richmond County Superior Court. The Augusta Press reported on 2022-09-24 that 13 of the 77 defendants had pleaded guilty; the published coverage reviewed does not report outcomes for the Aiken County defendants. [12][2]
In Operation Ghost Busted, David D. Young of Hortense, Georgia, one of the two defendants WCIV reported as having South Carolina ties, was taken into custody in March 2024 in Hermosillo, Mexico, and was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison, as announced on 2025-02-14. No USAO-South Carolina release naming the Ghostface Gangsters was located. [11][3]
Federal cases naming the gang continued through 2025. On 2024-07-26 the Eastern District of North Carolina announced a 360-month sentence for a Georgia GFG member who supplied a Raleigh methamphetamine network, and on 2025-06-24 the Middle District of Georgia announced a 360-month sentence for Donald Jason Miles, a GFG member who ran a methamphetamine conspiracy from a Georgia prison. [13][14]
The Ghostface Gangsters are a whites-only prison gang that federal prosecutors say formed in 2000 in the Cobb County, Georgia jail system. Its documented South Carolina footprint in public sources is limited to eight Aiken County residents charged in Georgia's 2021 Operation Kibosh and two 2023 federal fugitives reported to have South Carolina ties.
