NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. —

A gang leader and 17 of his associates have been sentenced to prison for running a major drug operation out of an abandoned community center in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The case arose from a long-term wiretap investigation conducted by the Lowcountry Violent Crime Task Force.

The North Charleston Police Department said the investigation targeted a violent street gang and their associates operating in a North Charleston neighborhood.

The leader of the gang, Fredrick McCray, directed drug distribution operations and armed his gang members with fully automatic machine guns to protect their territory from rival gangs and drug traffickers.

NHC Frederick McCray

Cornelius Walker was one of the gang’s primary enforcers and acted as McCray’s right-hand man.

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