Surenos, Nortenos and other Hispanic street gangs in South Carolina

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]

Key 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][6][7]

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. [8][3][9]

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. [10]

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. [11]

Where it stands

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. [12]

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]

The full profile, with every source, the county records and a dated timeline, is on the group page.