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A highly organized gang with national connections has operated for at least six years in the heart of Columbia, using violence and robbery while hawking its destructive product -- crack cocaine. Meet the Gangsta Killer Bloods.
James Matthew Quattlebaum was sure he was finished. The Indiana transplant sat in his car at the side of a Lexington County road, stopped for a traffic violation. On the seat, wrapped in tinfoil, was methamphetamine. On the floorboard were boxes of Sudafed. In the trunk, cans of ether.
Enrique Valdovinos ran the Mexican restaurant Los Caporales — which means “The Cattle Bosses” — on Two Notch Road just outside Columbia.
An early morning distress call from a woman claiming to be held at gunpoint has revealed itself to be a fake, authorities say.