200 fed-led cops nab 14 alleged Columbia carjackers, robbers and drug traffickers

More than 200 federal and local law enforcement officers on Tuesday rounded up 14 members of an alleged Columbia-area violent gang whose members specialized in carjackings, armed robberies and drug dealing, officials said.

The arrests of the 12 men and two women were the result of a nearly two-year investigation by the FBI, the DEA and local law enforcement into a spike in gang-related violence in Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties that began in July 2018, said U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy, who announced the arrests Tuesday.

Charges against the 14, who prosecutors say sported nicknames like “Who-Bang,” “Ma” and “Macho,” include conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and oxycodone. Drugs, guns and weapons were also seized.

Such arrests usually come after law enforcement investigators have mounted long-term undercover operations that include wiretaps, video surveillance and informants. Officials said Tuesday that this investigation included making controlled purchases of drugs and confidential sources but gave few other details.

U.S. Attorney McCoy’s office will prosecute the case. Also involved were the State Law Enforcement Division, the Columbia police department and sheriff’s departments in Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties.

McCoy said much of the violence occurring around the Midlands was the result of competing drug trafficking organizations having turf battles over who controlled what territory.

“In these trying times it is critical that the people of South Carolina know that this office and our federal, state and local law enforcement partners are here to help keep them safe and prosecute those who put their safety at risk,” McCoy said.

Jody Norris, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s South Carolina operations, said, “Even in the midst of a pandemic, the FBI and its task forces will continue to find and arrest drug traffickers who work against the people of South Carolina.”

Drugs — including cocaine, marijuana, oxycodone and fentanyl — are a big underground business in the Midlands and around South Carolina, law enforcement officials have said. Many drugs are brought in illegally. Columbia, being in center of three major north-south and east-west interstate highways, is a natural way station in the drug trade, law enforcement officials say.

“A lot of drugs pass through here, and some of them end up here,” a veteran law enforcement official told The State on Tuesday. “They contribute to a lot of the violence that we have.”

The charges were to be formally read to the defendants in hearings Tuesday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Columbia before Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges.

Those arrested on various felony drug charges are:

▪ Nelson “Macho” Duran Escobar, 37.

▪ Maurice “Blue” Antwain Leach, 33.

▪ Anthony “Mallet” Charles Britt, 31. Britt also goes by “Amp” and “KingCoke.”

▪ James “Dollar” Morris, 34.

▪ Christopher “Gunner” Daquan Melton, 27.

▪ Devonte “Ammo” Jabar Simon, 27.

▪ David “Dave” Lanard Ballard, 37.

▪ Ashley “Ponchie” Bryon Fisher, 38.

▪ Tommy “T-Novack” Lloyd, 42.

▪ Eric Travas Cowan, 60.

▪ Reginald “Fat Boy” Keith Furgess, 61. He is also known as “Reggie.”

▪ Trinette “Ma” Melton, 45. She is also known as “Auntie.”

▪ Jameel “Who-Bang” Daru Anderson, 32.

▪ Janie “J” Robinson, 36.

This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 2:19 PM.