Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Wednesday that the state's Gang Prosecution Unit has secured convictions against 16 members of the 1-8 Trey Gangster Bloods after a sweeping, multi-year investigation that prosecutors say unraveled violent crimes, drug trafficking operations, and gang recruitment efforts coordinated from both inside and outside Georgia prisons.

Among those convicted is Jamar Ramsay, identified by prosecutors as the statewide leader of the 1-8 Trey enterprise. Ramsay is already serving a life sentence at Hays State Prison for a previous murder conviction. According to the Attorney General's Office, Ramsay continued directing criminal activity from behind bars, including giving orders to other gang members and communicating electronically about the recruitment of minors and the movement of drugs and contraband.

Investigators said members of the group helped coordinate the packaging, sale and distribution of controlled substances, cell phones, and other banned items into state correctional facilities. Prosecutors also tied the defendants to gang activity across ten Georgia counties — Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Bulloch, Candler, Chattooga, Fulton, Gwinnett, Laurens, Monroe and Walton — as well as parts of California.

All 16 defendants have been convicted of Conspiracy to Violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, covering alleged acts committed between January 2019 and October 2022. Four defendants faced additional convictions.

One of them, Brantavious Sims, was also convicted of Murder for the 2022 shooting death of Lane Bullard in Barrow County.

Carr said the convictions shut down a coordinated prison-based operation that had extended its reach into communities across the state.

"These gang members thought they could orchestrate violence and criminal activity from inside a prison cell — they were wrong," Carr said in the announcement. "Our Gang Prosecution Unit will continue working with our partners to dismantle and disrupt these criminal enterprises wherever they operate."

This case is part of the Attorney General's ongoing statewide anti-gang initiative, which has secured multiple RICO indictments targeting hybrid and prison-based gang networks in recent years.