Public records place MS-13, a gang that DOJ says originated in Los Angeles among people of Salvadoran descent, in several South Carolina counties from 2006 onward, mainly through local police statements and arrests of people wanted elsewhere. The main South Carolina federal case is the 2008 West Columbia murder-for-hire, in which two MS-13 members were convicted in 2011 and sentenced to life. The State Department designated MS-13 a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025. [1][2][3][4]
Origins
The U.S. Department of Justice describes MS-13 as a transnational gang principally composed of people of Salvadoran descent that originated in Los Angeles and spread across the United States and abroad. A 2015 federal indictment in North Carolina described the gang's members as mostly immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador and other Central and Latin American countries, with over 6,000 members in the United States and 30,000 internationally. [1][5]
Footprint in South Carolina
Public reporting on MS-13 in South Carolina begins in the Midlands in early 2006. On March 1, 2006, Orangeburg officials announced that seven suspected MS-13 members had been rounded up by local and federal officers; Orangeburg officers said they first identified the gang in January 2006 after an arrest for assaulting a police officer. Two days later, Richland County deputies linked MS-13 to the robbery of two Hispanic stores on Decker Boulevard. [6][7][8]
In the Upstate, Greer-area police reported on July 24, 2007, that they had identified 14 people with ties to gangs including MS-13, Vatos Locos and Folk. An August 1, 2007, report on Victor Mill stated that MS-13 members were in the area but that official branches of these gangs had not formed. [9][10]
In the Lowcountry, a Joint Base Charleston commentary dated August 8, 2007, stated that MS-13 was becoming more active in the Charleston area. The Post and Courier reported on February 15, 2009, that the North Charleston Police gang team had identified several MS-13 and Surenos members, most of whom had already been arrested and deported. On May 23, 2018, the Berkeley County sheriff stated he saw no indication that MS-13 was in the Lowcountry. [11][12][13]
A Lexington County Sheriff's Office captain cited an increasing MS-13 presence in April 2010. Horry County reporting in March 2016 listed MS-13 among the gangs found in the county, and Horry County gang investigators named some MS13 activity among the groups watched in schools on March 20, 2019. [14][15][16]
Structure and organization
DOJ states that MS-13 is organized into local chapters called cliques, and that leaders in Los Angeles and El Salvador have presented a 'program' to cliques that increased violence against rivals and extortion of 'tax' payments. [1]
The nearest clique documented in federal records opened for this profile is the Hollywood Locos Salvatrucha (HLS) clique, charged in the Western District of North Carolina on May 7, 2024, as operating in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. The HSI office covering North Carolina and South Carolina took part. On February 19, 2026, the U.S. Attorney stated that the prosecution had dismantled the HLS clique, which operated up and down the eastern seaboard. The releases do not name a South Carolina location or defendant. [17][18]
Identifiers and symbols
Local officers have described tattoos and graffiti as markers. Orangeburg officers said in March 2006 that they first recognized MS-13 from tattoos seen during an arrest. In March 2006 a Richland County gang investigator said MS-13 graffiti was appearing weekly and translated the graffiti as 'Mara Salvatuche' (spelling as reported). No public South Carolina source opened for this profile describes specific MS-13 tattoo designs. [6][8]
Notable South Carolina cases
The main federal MS-13 prosecution in South Carolina is the West Columbia murder-for-hire case. On February 10, 2011, a federal jury in Columbia convicted Martin Teran and Josue Benitez on all seven counts, including murder-for-hire, possession of a firearm by an illegal alien and illegal reentry. Evidence showed that an individual from Honduras hired them, and that they drove from Houston and killed Jorge Ramos in West Columbia on November 2, 2008. The trial showed both men were MS-13 members. [2]
The U.S. Attorney's Office reported that agents intercepted encoded communications from Teran while he awaited trial, and that these communications showed an attempt to tamper with witnesses. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department and the FBI led the investigation, with assistance from SLED, ICE, ATF and the Houston Police Department. The Associated Press reported on August 3, 2011, that both men received life sentences. [2][3]
Other South Carolina cases have been arrests of people wanted elsewhere. On May 23, 2018, a U.S. Marshals-led team arrested Franklin Platero-Rodriguez, 21, in Ladson; Walker County, Texas, wanted him for murder. Erick Salvador Hernandez Bonilla, 23, wanted through Interpol on six murder counts and a terrorist-threat charge that authorities linked to MS13 activity in El Salvador, was arrested on Lady's Island on September 23, 2021. Berkeley County deputies arrested Elmer Neftali Martinez-Escobar, 31, during a traffic stop in Moncks Corner on June 29, 2024. NCIC listed him as an MS-13 member and an El Salvador fugitive wanted for homicide, and he was transferred to ICE custody. [13][19][20]
Inside SCDC
Public reporting on MS-13 inside South Carolina state prisons is thin. After the April 2018 riot at Lee Correctional Institution, a former Lee captain told The Post and Courier that Bloods and Crips were the largest threats and that the Gangster Disciples, Folk Nation and MS-13 also had a presence. No public source opened for this profile gives an MS-13 count or describes an MS-13 incident in SCDC. [21]
Current status
Federal releases state that the U.S. State Department designated MS-13 a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025. A federal prosecutor in Texas cited that designation when announcing sentences on April 29, 2025, for MS-13 leaders who planned a January 2022 attack on Mexican Mafia and Surenos associates in federal prison. The attack killed two people and led to a nationwide Federal Bureau of Prisons lockdown. That case did not involve SCDC. [4][22]
Reporting dated August 24, 2026, on state indictments of more than 30 defendants in a Charleston-area cartel drug case quotes HSI as saying that illicit nightclubs attracted members of gangs including Tren de Aragua and MS-13. The sources opened for this profile name no MS-13 defendant in that case. [23]
