NEW ZEALAND’S GANGSTERS
THE ECONOMIST
La Nouvelle-Zélande compte beaucoup plus de moutons que d’habitants, ce qui surprend à peine au vu de ses paysages verdoyants et idylliques. Plus étonnant, le pays compte plus de 5 300 membres de gang — c’est plus que le nombre de militaires du pays, qui avoisine les 4 500. Le quotidien britannique The Economist nous présente les gangs néo-zélandais.
The picturesque wine country of Hawkes Bay is hardly a classic gangland. Tourists come here to ogle art deco buildings or slurp merlot. But its less affluent suburbs are divided between bitter rivals: Black Power and the Mongrel Mob, New Zealand’s biggest gangs. This underworld occasionally rears its head, with, say, gunfire at a rugby game, or an assault outside a winery.
2. For a sleepy country, New Zealand has a peculiar problem with gangs. Police count over 5,300
members or “prospects” lining up to join one of its 25 listed groups, which together makes them a bigger force than the army. Unlike counterparts in other countries, they thrive in rural areas as well as cities. Almost a quarter of people living in the shabby bungalows of Flaxmere, a suburb in Hawkes Bay, are said to be linked to Black Power.
BLACK POWER AND MONGREL MOB
3. Bikers such as the Hell’s Angels have a presence in New Zealand, but Black Power and the Mongrel Mob have ruled the roost for almost half a century.
Their members “stick out like dogs’ balls”, one admits, because they sew patches onto their clothes and brand themselves with dense tattoos. A clenched fist is the symbol of Black Power; a bulldog or the Nazi salute “Sieg Heil” are the marks of the Mongrels. Both gangs are predominantly Maori. In all, police say three-quarters of the country’s mobsters are Maori (they make up just 15% of the population as a whole).
4. For decades the groups fought ruthlessly for turf, beat and raped women, and pushed wannabe