Who are the Ghostface Gangsters?

ATLANTA — Five people arrested in connection with the murder of a 14-year-old girl are members of an all-white gang called the Ghostface Gangsters, Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood said.

WSB-TV has reported about the dangerous Ghostface Gangsters gang since 2014.

The gang is significantly involved in trafficking meth.

Unlike almost all other gangs, which originate on the streets and end up in prisons, the Ghostface Gangsters started in the Cobb County Jail and then made their way to the streets.

Ghostface has a rigid hierarchical structure, with rules that members, ironically, pay a lot of attention to.

Exclusive jailhouse interview

In March 2015, members of the gang faced a racketeering indictment. The gang was said to be more than 400 members strong in the state at the time and heavily involved in the drug trade.

Patty Green, a grandmother and mother, was in the Newton County Detention Center at the time.

“I’m definitely not a racketeer. I’m not a criminal,” Green told WSB-TV.

A district attorney’s office investigator said a racketeering indictment painted Green as a key associate of the Ghostface Gangsters.

Green was released from prison Nov. 15, 2019, and is currently on parole, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections website.

Operation Poltergeist

In May 2017, WSB-TV reported that federal, state and local authorities arrested 13 alleged Ghostface Gangsters or gang associates around the state.

One of the arrests happened as WSB-TV was wrapping up an interview with a suspect who was about to be arrested.

“Are you a Ghostface Gangster?” a reporter asked the suspect.

“No, I’m retired now,” the suspect said.

“They allow you (to) do that?” the reporter asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been Ghostface a long time,” the suspect said.

Operation Vanilla Gorilla

In December 2018, WSB-TV reported that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia confirmed a grand jury had indicted dozens affiliated with the Ghostface Gangsters.

It was part of what they called Operation Vanilla Gorilla.

The charges included trafficking meth, cocaine and heroin, illegal firearms possession and counterfeiting.

As of November 2019, all 43 defendants pleaded guilty to the charges, the Department of Justice said in a news release.

The DOJ says the 43 defendants had 561 previous arrests altogether.

Four defendants had more than 10 felony convictions each.

Cox Media Group