Public reporting places Surenos (Sur 13), Nortenos, Vatos Locos, 18th Street, Neta and Latin Kings members or graffiti in Charleston, Dorchester, Lexington, Horry, York, Spartanburg, Greenville, Greenwood and Richland counties from 2005 forward. Most South Carolina records are 2007 to 2012 news reports of ICE-led arrests, graffiti and sheriff's office gang lists; the most recent prosecutorial record is the Attorney General's August 24, 2026 Operation Last Stand announcement citing 18th Street associations. [1][2][3][4][5]
Origins
A 2009 Washington Times report described the Surenos, or SUR-13, as a collection of Mexican-American street gangs with origins in the oldest barrios of Southern California. A 2013 federal release from California describes Nuestra Familia as a Latino prison gang whose members exert control over street-level Norteno gang members. [6][7]
A 2008 Justice Department report states that 18th Street formed in Los Angeles as a group of loosely associated sets or cliques. The same report describes Florencia 13 as subordinate to the Mexican Mafia and claiming Surenos affiliation, Neta as a prison gang that began in Puerto Rico, and the Latin Kings as a Chicago-based collection of chapters. A 2021 federal release from Massachusetts describes the Trinitarios as a street gang originating in the New York area. [8][9]
Footprint in South Carolina
Public reporting on Hispanic street gangs in South Carolina begins in the mid-2000s. In April 2005, a Free Times feature listed the Latin Kings among about 50 gang names reported by the Richland County Sheriff's Department. In August 2007, a Joint Base Charleston commentary reported that Los Nortenos members had defaced Sur-13 tags on Stall Road in North Charleston. In September 2007, the Post and Courier reported Surenos 13 and Sur 13 graffiti in Summerville; Summerville police assessed it as imitation. [10][1][11]
In July 2007, Greer police working with the Greenville and Spartanburg county sheriffs identified 14 people with ties to gangs including MS-13, Vatos Locos and Folk. On March 10, 2011, a Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office gang officer named Surenos and Tres Vatos Locos among 31 documented gangs in the county and showed video of what the local Brown Pride Nortenos did to a member who broke the rules. [12][4]
In November 2015, a Greenwood detective told the Index-Journal that Sur 13 members were present in Greenwood. [13]
Identifiers and symbols
Public sources tie the number 13 to Surenos (Sur 13, SUR-13) and record rival Nortenos defacing Sur-13 tags in North Charleston. In 2007, graffiti near Stall High School mixed 13s and 14s, some crossed out as a sign of disrespect. The 2008 Justice Department report lists F 13 and FX 13 as names for Florencia 13. No South Carolina source located for this profile reports Florencia 13 or Trinitarios activity in the state. [1][11][6][8][9]
Notable South Carolina cases
In November 2008, 15 of 25 people arrested in the Charleston area in an ICE Operation Community Shield action were associates of the Surenos. In February 2009, the North Charleston police gang team said it had identified several MS-13 and Surenos members, most of them already arrested and deported. On February 8, 2009, three men attacked a Lexington County deputy near West Columbia. A Washington Times report said two of the men were identified in an ICE report as Surenos members. [2][14][6]
On August 17, 2009, the Post and Courier reported that the North Charleston police gang unit described an armed robbery suspect as a SUR-13 member. On December 14, 2009, WMBF reported a Myrtle Beach, Horry County, ICE and SLED operation that targeted SUR-13, Blood and 18th Street gang members; one arrestee was listed as Neta. On September 2, 2010, WSOC reported nine arrests in Rock Hill from an ICE list of residents suspected of MS-13 and SUR-13 membership. [15][3][16]
In March 2012, the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office charged Ivan Resendez Ramirez, German Ramos-Morales and Francisco Javier Villegas-Perez with disturbing school and gang coercion, alleging they tried to force a Boiling Springs High School student to join Tres Vatos Locos. [17]
On January 10, 2019, Jobany Colon, described by the solicitor's office as affiliated with the Latin Kings, was sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a May 19, 2017 North Charleston shooting. [18]
Current status
In March 2016, WIS reported 17 South Carolina arrests in ICE's national Project Shadowfire, whose arrestees nationwide were mostly affiliated with gangs like MS-13, Surenos, Nortenos and Bloods. The report did not state which gangs the South Carolina arrestees belonged to. [19]
On August 24, 2026, the South Carolina Attorney General announced State Grand Jury indictments in Operation Last Stand, a Charleston-area cartel drug pipeline case in which targets had associations to Piru Bloods, 18th Street, Tren de Aragua and Rolling 20's Crips. MS-13 is covered in its own profile. [5]
