‘Everyone is coming against us’

The head of one of New Zealand’s largest gang chapters has offered an olive branch to his arch nemesis: Black Power. The reason? Concern at an invasion of Australian biker gangs. Florence Kerr reports.

just adding to the problems New Zealand has that we now become part of that international gang network . . . we aren’t immune.

‘‘They’re better financed to start with, they’re more organised and they’ve learnt to combat police methods previously – so yes, that does increase the risk.’’

But Cahill says Fatu’s dream of seeing New Zealand’s two biggest gangs come together to fight insurgents is not the answer. ‘‘Two wrongs don’t make a right.’’

The police have beefed up numbers in their organised crime units, committing 700 new police officers to combat the bikie gang invasion, he says. That creates a competition. ‘‘One’s grown to combat the risk of the other. It is a big concern and that’s why the police getting these extra resources is good, but the trouble for the longer term is that [we] can’t just tackle the offending. What we need to look at is what’s attracting these people to the gangs in the first place.’’

And it’s not just the outsiders. The long-established New Zealand gangs remained a criminal problem. Ethnic gangs are modelled around family ties and community groups, but Cahill says that doesn’t mean they are good for those groups.

‘‘They still make money selling drugs, doing standover tactics and bringing pain into those communities, but the fact they’re talking about getting together shows how competitive those markets are getting, and that creates a real risk of gang violence. And unfortunately the public and police officers are caught in the middle of that.

‘‘It’s just a case of patch protection, it’s not really trying to stand up for their community, it’s really just protecting their patch so they can do their unlawful activities without that competition.’’

Aware of police hostility, Fatu agrees it’s about patch protection – but denies greater Mongrel Mob and Black Power ties would be about the drug trade.

He believes the Government may even look at introducing a non-association law, and not just to combat the Australian interlopers.

‘‘So I know with our Government, perhaps, that they will probably adapt some of these laws that they have going on in Australia to try and combat these gangs that are coming over with these international networks.

‘‘The politicians would need a reason to adopt these laws and [there would be no better excuse] than the Black Power and Mongrel Mob going to war.

‘‘If we continue to put each other in prisons – us and the Blacks, putting each other in the urupa, graveyards – land will be freed up and this is what [foreign gangs] need to establish.’’

A spokesperson for Justice