Local and hybrid crews · street
Public sources name a small number of local and hybrid crews in the Pee Dee and Grand Strand, including the West Marion Up Top Soldiers and a 2019 Florence list, the Down West Boys of Marlboro County and the Cedar Branch organization of Horry County. Federal and state prosecutions since 2008 have targeted these groups. In 2026, the FBI tied many of nine Dillon County shootings to a gang feud that public sources do not name. [1][2][3][4][5]
A National Drug Intelligence Center assessment of South Carolina's cocaine market listed the New York Boys of Myrtle Beach among the gangs selling crack at the retail level. [6]
A state Department of Public Safety study reported by The Post and Courier on 2009-12-09 charted gang activity from 1998 through 2007. It found that Florence and Darlington counties followed only Richland County in reported gang violence in 2007. [7]
In a 2008-01-04 report, the Florence County sheriff counted 51 gang-related groups in the county, 20 of them inside Florence city limits. On 2019-10-07, a Florence investigator quoted by SCNow named the Gangster Disciples as the largest gang in the city. He also listed smaller groups of local origin: the Woodmont Boys, Quad, Y.B., M.P.R. ("Money, Power, Respect"), Y.T.N., N.L.M.B. and C.C.G., which he described as an all-girl gang. [8][1]
On 2020-01-03, Lake City Police Chief Kip Coker said the city has more than 300 gang members. He described a run of shootings as "gang on gang." He named no groups. [9]
In Horry County, 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said on 2024-01-18 that Loris and Longs, near the North Carolina line, see the most gang activity. He said groups there and around Tabor City, North Carolina "war back and forth." The Sun News reported on 2024-04-01 that the solicitor described local subsets such as the 15th Street Boys in the Myrtle Beach area. [10][11]
Officials in neighboring counties have given counts but few names. On 2008-02-29, the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office put the county at nearly a dozen organized gangs. On 2012-12-13, Williamsburg County officers estimated four to six gang sects. On 2026-02-05, Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley said most recent shootings in Manning were gang-related as a joint task force formed. [12][13][14]
Public sources describe several of these groups as hybrids. Marlboro County investigators said on 2009-08-10 that Down West Boys members affiliate with Folk/Crip gangs in bigger cities. The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office described its groups as hybrid gangs in 2008. The 2019 Florence list also named music groups, KAP Boys ("Keep Applying Pressure"), Blaccout and Gassquad, that the investigator said have some members involved in illegal activities. [3][12][1]
Federal cases in the same region have also targeted sets of national gangs rather than local crews. On 2017-05-18, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported guilty pleas in a Florence, Charleston and Myrtle Beach drug investigation aimed at the Billie East Side Bloods, a United Blood Nation set. On 2019-03-19, it reported that Barbara Landy, leader of a subset of a national gang operating in the Florence and Myrtle Beach areas, was sentenced to 210 months. [15][16]
On 2008-05-02, nine members of the West Marion Up Top Soldiers, a Florence County gang, pleaded guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges. On 2009-08-10, Marlboro County deputies and Bennettsville police named seven members or affiliates of the Down West Boys on armed robbery, conspiracy and weapons charges. [2][3]
On 2015-12-14, a Florence Division grand jury charged nine people in a 22-count drug indictment that grew out of an investigation of neighborhood street gangs in Hartsville. On 2021-11-04, federal prosecutors announced charges against nine defendants in Florence after a multi-year operation against several sets of a violent street gang the release did not name. [17][18]
In Operation Broken Branch, announced 2020-06-30, more than 200 officers arrested 23 people charged federally in a drug trafficking organization based in the Cedar Branch area of Horry County. The FBI Pee Dee Safe Streets Gang Task Force led the investigation. On 2022-03-14, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported that all 30 defendants had pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The longest sentence was 180 months, for Teontric Jackson of Loris. [19][4]
On 2020-05-17, two rival groups from the Chesterfield County area exchanged gunfire across traffic on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Anthony Griffin of Pageland was sentenced to eight years on 2024-01-23 after a guilty plea to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Co-defendants from Cheraw and Pageland received six to 11 years. [20]
In Sumter, police said on 2019-12-13 that many of 18 men arrested on federal drug charges were believed to be high-ranking gang members, some from rival groups. In Clarendon County in June 2022, three people were arrested in a gang-related shooting at a Summerton graduation party that killed one person and injured nine. [21][22]
On 2026-06-26, the FBI Columbia field office offered $10,000 for information on nine Dillon County shootings that have killed five people since March 2026. Officials said many of the shootings are tied to a gang feud that began in March 2026. The Dillon County Sheriff's Office leads the case. No gang names and no arrests tied to the feud were reported. [5]
On 2026-08-24, a Horry County jury convicted Franklin Vereen-Price of Little River and Sean Page Jr. of Conway of murder, first-degree burglary and conspiracy in the 2023-12-15 home invasion killing of a Loris-area man. Both men received life without parole. The prosecutor called them "known gang members" but named no gang. On 2026-08-06, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said it believes gang members killed a 20-year-old man whose body was found on 2026-08-01. It named no suspects. [23][24]
Public sources name a small number of local and hybrid crews in the Pee Dee and Grand Strand, including the West Marion Up Top Soldiers and a 2019 Florence list, the Down West Boys of Marlboro County and the Cedar Branch organization of Horry County. Federal and state prosecutions since 2008 have targeted these groups. In 2026, the FBI tied many of nine Dillon County shootings to a gang feud that public sources do not name.
