Hispanic / Latino gangs · dto
Public South Carolina cases from 2020 through 2026 describe local and regional drug trafficking organizations supplied by Mexican cartels, CJNG among them, in Horry, York, the Upstate and the Charleston area. Tren de Aragua appears in South Carolina public records mainly through ICE statements, a 2025 Summerville shoplifting case and the 2026 Operation Last Stand indictments, which name it as an association, not a charged membership. Since February 20, 2025, TdA, CJNG, Sinaloa and CDN have been designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. [1][2][3][4][5][6]
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tren de Aragua as a significant transnational criminal organization on July 11, 2024. Treasury described the group as originating as a prison gang in Aragua, Venezuela, and listed human smuggling and trafficking, money laundering and illicit drug trafficking among its activities. On February 20, 2025, the State Department published Foreign Terrorist Organization designations of Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste (also listed as Los Zetas), the Gulf Cartel and La Nueva Familia Michoacana. The notice is dated February 6, 2025, and the designations took effect on publication. [7][6]
Public South Carolina cases from 2020 through 2026 tie Mexican cartel supply to drug trafficking organizations in Horry, York, Greenville, Pickens, Laurens, Anderson, Oconee and Charleston counties. In most of these cases the cartel is a supply source named in the release, not a charged defendant. [1][2][8][3][9][4]
Tren de Aragua appears in South Carolina public reporting mainly in immigration enforcement and minor criminal cases in Berkeley, Dorchester and Charleston counties. On January 31, 2025, ICE arrested three men on Brick Greens Road in Goose Creek and said they "allegedly have ties" to Tren de Aragua. [10][5][4]
On August 24, 2026, the Attorney General said Operation Last Stand targeted individuals with associations to Piru Bloods, 18th Street, Tren de Aragua, Rolling 20s Crips, Los Zetas/Cartel del Noreste and CJNG. HSI described illicit nightclubs that "attracted members of violent gangs including Tren de Aragua and MS-13." These are investigative characterizations, not charged findings of membership. [4][11]
The South Carolina releases describe cartel-sourced cells that sell to local distributors, not cartel chapters. The Cedar Branch organization in Horry County had several interstate suppliers, one of them with "direct ties" to CJNG. The Contreras organization operated mainly from Tucson, Arizona, and the USAO said a Mexican cartel supplied it. [1][3]
Los Banditos was a Greenville restaurant-based network; the Attorney General alleged that the owners of the Los Primos restaurant ran and facilitated the trafficking. Last Stand grew from investigations into unsanctioned nightclubs in the greater Charleston area that the Attorney General said became hubs for narcotics, prostitution and gang violence. [8][4]
Operation Broken Branch (Horry County): the FBI Pee Dee Safe Streets Gang Task Force and local partners arrested 23 defendants on June 30, 2020. On March 14, 2022, the USAO announced that all 30 defendants had pleaded guilty and been sentenced on two indictments with 72 counts. This is a CONVICTED case; the CJNG link is to one supplier. [12][1]
Los Banditos (Greenville, May 18, 2022): 124 charges against 34 defendants, with seizures of almost 11 kilograms of methamphetamine, 584 grams of cocaine, about $63,000 and over 20 firearms. Las Senoritas (Upstate, January 12, 2023): 170 charges against 43 defendants, with conspiracy to traffic 400 grams or more of methamphetamine as the lead charge. Both are State Grand Jury indictments, and the Attorney General stated that all defendants are presumed innocent. [8][2]
Rafael Contreras Ramos, 40, of Mexico, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2026 to a drug conspiracy in South Carolina. The USAO said his organization brought more than 40 kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of fentanyl and 1 kilogram of heroin into the state, and Contreras was extradited from Mexico. Timothy Markee Gayton, 34, of Rock Hill, was sentenced on April 20, 2026 to 25 years for fentanyl pill labs in the York County area; the USAO referred to his "cartel supply networks" without naming a cartel. [3][9]
Operation Last Stand (Charleston area, August 24, 2026): five indictments with 59 charges against 31 defendants were unsealed, and the case is PENDING. WCIV tied the case to a June 2025 club raid in Ladson where 86 people were arrested (7 criminal, 79 administrative immigration arrests). The Attorney General's release dates a North Charleston nightclub warrant to February 8, 2026 with the same arrest counts; the two dates have not been reconciled. [4][13]
On March 20, 2025, Summerville police charged Edison Alejandro Ramiro Munoz, Yosveni Miched Parra Quinonez and Alejandro J. Miranda Rodriguez with shoplifting less than $2,000 after a February 27, 2025 theft of about $299.42 in gun parts and ammunition from Palmetto State Armory. Parra Quinonez was also charged with possession of burglary tools. Live 5 reported that "ICE confirmed" all three were Tren de Aragua members. The charges are misdemeanor-level and do not allege gang activity. On July 10, 2025, WCIV reported that Munoz faces murder-related charges connected to a double homicide in Chicago. [5][14]
The Attorney General alleged that the Las Senoritas defendants coordinated with SCDC inmates over contraband cell phones to have drugs, mainly methamphetamine, delivered. It named SCDC inmates Darrell Foster McCoy Jr. and Matthew David McCoy, who it said had been incarcerated since 2015 and "allegedly continued trafficking methamphetamine from prison." The SCDC Office of Inspector General assisted in both Las Senoritas and Last Stand. [2][4]
Since February 20, 2025, Tren de Aragua, CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel del Noreste have been designated FTOs. The Attorney General's August 24, 2026 Last Stand release calls Los Zetas/CDN and CJNG "designated Foreign Terrorist Organization" cartels. No public South Carolina release reviewed charges a defendant with a terrorism offense tied to these designations. [6][4]
On June 17, 2025, the South Carolina Attorney General led a 25-state amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit supporting Alien Enemies Act removals of Tren de Aragua members. This is litigation advocacy and is not a South Carolina prosecution. [15]
South Carolina officials have dismantled a major drug trafficking pipeline linked to Mexican cartels, resulting in over 30 indictments across the Lowcountry.
A state grand jury has indicted 31 defendants on 59 charges in a multi-year case that officials tie to Mexican cartel supply routes and Lowcountry gangs.
Public South Carolina cases from 2020 through 2026 describe local and regional drug trafficking organizations supplied by Mexican cartels, CJNG among them, in Horry, York, the Upstate and the Charleston area. Tren de Aragua appears in South Carolina public records mainly through ICE statements, a 2025 Summerville shoplifting case and the 2026 Operation Last Stand indictments, which name it as an association, not a charged membership. Since February 20, 2025, TdA, CJNG, Sinaloa and CDN have been designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
AG and SLED announce State Grand Jury cartel pipeline indictments
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