Chronology of the record
Timeline
Key dates from the public record: foundations, migrations into South Carolina, major prosecutions and prison incidents, each with its sources.
Clarence 13X (Clarence Smith) breaks from the Nation of Islam in New York; the Five Percent Nation is founded in Harlem.
Clarence 13X is murdered; the movement later grows inside northeastern prison systems.
Gangster Disciples begin operations in Chicago in the early 1970s under Larry Hoover (per 7th Cir.).
Britannica: Crips founded in Los Angeles by Stanley Williams and Raymond Washington (accounts vary; 1969 also cited)
An inmate at Central Correctional Institution reports being stabbed and beaten by a group of Five Percenters.
Lee Correctional Institution unit manager reports a Five Percenter group preying on weaker inmates and once attempting to start a riot.
Assault on three inmates at Lieber CI and attack on three officers at Allendale CI with their own batons and pepper spray.
Segregated inmates file Section 1983 suits in the District of South Carolina during the summer.
Six Five Percenters and one other inmate riot at Broad River CI, taking three employees hostage for eleven hours; four officers hospitalized.
Director of Security McKellar recommends and Director Moore approves STG designation of the Five Percenters; about 300 inmates are moved to segregation.
Cases consolidated under No. 2:96-cv-05555 before Judge Duffy; amended complaint filed 1996-12-31.
Judge Duffy grants summary judgment to SCDC on most claims but enjoins the total literature ban.
Consent order makes the literature injunction permanent.
Fourth Circuit affirms the STG designation and segregation in 174 F.3d 464.
District court approves a $5,000 fee settlement and closes the case after Supreme Court review was denied in 1999.
SC Administrative Law Judge Division dismisses Shabazz v. SCDOC, reciting SCDC's position that the group is a security threat group, not a religion.
NDIC assesses SC Bloods and Crips as loosely affiliated with LA gangs; Myrtle Beach PD describes local Crips membership
NDIC names the Mafia Gangster Disciples as a violent gang in Charleston.
Bloods-Crips confrontation at Club Voodoo, Columbia; Crips member Carl Smalls shot dead (State v. Price)
Free Times feature lists Black Gangster Disciples among Richland County gangs; Columbia teen beaten into Folk Nation.
Palmetto Firearms robbery on Broad River Road, Columbia, leads to arrests of at least three Crips members
S.C. Supreme Court affirms Jeroid Price's murder conviction in State v. Price
Sumter County Sheriff's Office says gang members identify as Folk Nation, Black Gangsters and Disciples.
The Criminal Gang Prevention Act (2007 Act No. 82) takes effect, codified at S.C. Code Section 16-8-210 et seq., defining a criminal gang as an ongoing group of five or more persons.
Fourth Circuit dismisses Incumaa v. Ozmint (MSU publication ban) as moot after the inmate's 2005 release from the MSU.
Orangeburg County gang specialist identifies Crips and Folk Nation graffiti on Prospect Road
SC DPS Statistical Analysis Center report "Gangs and Crime in South Carolina" finds Bamberg County had the highest rate of identified inmate gang member admissions in 2008.
Five Marlboro County defendants plead guilty in federal case; shooters identified as Crips members
Fourth Circuit affirms conviction in United States v. Wright, Dillon Crips member
Capt. Robert Johnson of Lee Correctional shot six times at his Sumter home in a hit arranged from inside the prison
Five sentenced in Florence; one described as a leader of the Insane Gangsta Disciples.
Orangeburg shooting involves the Stilton/Hill Boys, associated with the Folk Nation.
Thirty-nine members and associates of the Bloods street gang are indicted and arrested in the summer and fall of 2012 in the second wave of an FBI investigation.
Columbia Folk Nation member sentenced to 40 years federal for armed robberies.
Lumumba Incumaa files a pro se complaint challenging the renunciation requirement for release from security detention.
Federal jury in Columbia convicts Calvin James Hall of Irmo of RICO conspiracy as a member or associate of the Bloods street gang.
Summerville shooting charged as firing at a Gangster Disciples member and three police officers.
Officials find a crashed drone carrying cellphones, marijuana and tobacco outside Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville; one person is arrested.
Calvin James Hall is sentenced to life without parole in the Bloods RICO case.
Sean Echols sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring to kill Capt. Johnson
Columbia Violent Gangs Task Force arrests 24 defendants charged in a cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracy.
Fourth Circuit in Incumaa v. Stirling finds a liberty interest and a triable due process claim; notes only two Five Percenters remain in the SMU.
Federal grand jury in Charleston indicts 14 members and associates of the Cowboys and Wildboys gangs of Walterboro and Summerville on racketeering and attempted murder charges.
ATF reward for Allendale fugitive described as a documented Gangster Disciple.
Inmate Kendrick Hoover killed inside a state prison on gang orders, per the indictment.
Joey Barfield federally convicted after supplying guns to Gangsta Disciples returning to Barnwell County from prison.
State Grand Jury indicts 34 people in a methamphetamine trafficking organization led by SCDC inmates using contraband phones, including inmates at Broad River and Lee Correctional Institutions.
ATF, Lexington County MANET and Eleventh Circuit Solicitor open methamphetamine and firearms investigation that becomes the IGD case.
Virginia federal court orders VDOC to stop treating NOGE as a gang; AP reports fifteen states recognize the group as a religion.
A Wildboys gang member is sentenced to 20 years for the attempted murder of a rival gang member in aid of racketeering.
Five Elm Street Piru Bloods members from Bishopville, Greenville, Piedmont and Florence are indicted for conspiracy to murder a state witness in aid of racketeering.
Dashawn Trevell Brown, the last indicted member of the Walterboro Cowboys gang, is sentenced to 20 years for RICO conspiracy.
Lee Correctional riot begins with a Gangster Disciples inmate stabbing a Bloods inmate; seven die.
Lexington County Hells Angels member Jerry Oliver is sentenced to the statutory maximum of 10 years for a murder-for-hire plot against his ex-wife.
Federal indictments are unsealed against 14 former SCDC employees for accepting bribes and bringing contraband into state prisons.
FBI Columbia Violent Gang Task Force opens investigation of Rollin 60s Crips and Gangster Disciples
District of South Carolina applies Incumaa in Halcomb v. Ravenal.
Five SCDC inmates among 15 defendants are indicted for a scheme using smuggled smartphones to defraud military service members, 2015-2017.
U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon publishes "Let States Jam Prison Cellphones" and lists federal contraband-phone prosecutions.
First recorded ATF informant methamphetamine purchase arranged through Ward.
Michelle Dodge kidnapped; body found in Laurens County.
Laurens County Sheriff announces eight arrests in the Dodge killing, including Peterson.
Search of Lexington County storage unit seizes about 3 kg methamphetamine and nine firearms.
SCDC officers find Ward holding the contraband phone used with the ATF informant.
Eight former SCDC employees plead guilty to federal crimes tied to accepting bribes to smuggle contraband into SCDC facilities.
Florence investigator calls the Gangster Disciples probably the biggest gang in Florence.
State Grand Jury indicts 54 defendants in "Prison Empire," alleging drug trafficking run through contraband cell phones in prisons.
Fourteen arrested in Lexington, Kershaw and Richland counties in the Rollin 60s Crips and Gangster Disciples case
Ward arrested and transported to Spartanburg County.
United States v. Ward, No. 6:20-cr-00628, docketed in D.S.C.
Attorney General Alan Wilson announces 29 men are charged with 79 counts related to the April 2018 Lee Correctional riot.
147-count superseding indictment against 40 defendants announced at Broad River Correctional Institution.
"Prison Empire" reaches 100 defendants and 487 charges, the largest narcotics conspiracy indicted in South Carolina courts; the AG reports alleged gang involvement and Mexican sources of supply.
Deas Hill mass shooting in North Charleston; court documents tie it to a Bloods vs. Rollin 20s Crips rivalry
Conestee Park cookout shooting in Greenville; one dead, three injured; Rolling 20s members charged
Peterson sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ward sentenced to 276 months.
Lee County Sheriff's Office reports more than 20 arrests and more than 100 pounds of contraband seized in a months-long investigation of drone drops at a Bishopville prison.
Gang ambassadors including Gangster Disciples and Folk Nation call Columbia peace press conference.
USAO-EDNC names Dexter Maxwell as leader of the Eight Tray Gangster Crips for North and South Carolina
Attorney General Wilson leads a multistate push for jamming authority, stating the 2018 Lee riot was orchestrated and planned using contraband cell phones.
Laurens Gangster Disciples member convicted of murdering a police informant; 40 years.
SCDC inmate Daniel Allen Shannon is sentenced to life in federal prison for using contraband cellphones to run methamphetamine distribution in Lancaster and Kershaw counties.
Nine current or former SCDC inmates and six others are indicted in a nearly $5 million COVID-19 unemployment fraud scheme run from inside prison.
40th and final defendant sentenced.
Carlos Antonio Grooms, "B Lord," found by the court to be the leader of a local criminal street gang, is sentenced to 30 years in the Lexington fentanyl conspiracy.
West Columbia ATF operation: 20 federally charged; defendants include Bloods, Crips and Gangster Disciples members
Myrtle Beach multi-agency operation targeting the Rollin 90s Crips results in federal charges against 13 defendants
A former SCDC officer and supervisor at Broad River Correctional Institution and an SCDC inmate are indicted for bribery, honest services wire fraud and money laundering.
Prison Empire: Jennifer Nicole Burns, who distributed methamphetamine at the direction of an SCDC inmate, is sentenced to 55 years; the AG dates the organization from September 2013 to May 2021.
SCDC inmate Benjamin Johnathan Newman is sentenced to more than 26 years for leading a methamphetamine and heroin operation by contraband phone; SCDC seized 16 phones from him.
Horry County Police two-week sweep: 80 arrests, 40 gang members, 58 guns; Bloods, Crips and GD members arrested
Second state trial over the 2018 Lee Correctional riot begins.
16 indicted in Charleston; several associated with Gangster Disciple and Fruit Town Piru.
State Grand Jurors issue a rare report on organized crime run from within state prisons using contraband cellphones.
The FCC acts to advance a rule allowing state prisons to jam contraband cell phones; Attorney General Wilson notes the rule still requires a public comment period.
State Grand Jury indictments and multi-agency operations targeted a large-scale drug trafficking pipeline linked to Mexican cartels and gang-affiliated individuals.
A South Carolina drone bill would bar drone flights within 1,500 feet of correctional facilities and create state penalties.
14 more indicted in the Charleston investigation; 26 charged overall.
Seven are charged in a $550,000 bribery scheme involving a Lee Correctional Institution corporal and two SCDC inmates.
SC Attorney General announces Operation Last Stand State Grand Jury indictments naming Rolling 20s Crips associations
Larry White convicted in Lee riot case after prosecutors describe a Crips and Gangster Disciples mob.
Kimron Keantea Lilly sentenced to 27 years for the 2021 Conestee Park shooting; Rolling 20s named
A convicted felon was arrested by North Charleston police following a traffic stop where a handgun was recovered.
A state grand jury indicted a drug trafficking and dogfighting ring with connections to SCDC inmates operating in the Midlands.
A state grand jury indicted 25 individuals, including five SCDC inmates, for drug trafficking and dogfighting operations.
Video & photo record
Seven inmates killed at S.C. maximum security prison
NBC Nightly News report on the April 2018 Lee Correctional Institution riot.
NBC News (YouTube) · Source
State shows surveillance video of Lee Correctional riot at trial
WIS coverage of the riot killings trial.
WIS News 10 (YouTube) · Source
SC prisons could jam cell phones to stop crimes behind bars
Local news (YouTube) · Source
Lee Correctional Institution, Bishopville
Wikimedia Commons · See file page · Source