GANG LAND CHANGES
When New Zealand last saw a spate of gang-related shootings it was locals in the 80s, now it’s involving newcomers. Florence Kerr reports.
As the clock ticked toward the new year Tauranga firefighters were battling an arson attack in the quaint suburb of Greerton. It was nothing remarkable, a barbershop Bladed and Faded had been set alight, the sort of thing that happens every so often.
But this was not a random act, it was a calculated move to prove a point. The barbershop is linked to the Mongol MC gang which had recently established in the area.
The spark was allegedly ignited by a member of the well established gang the Mongrel Mob. The reason – gang territory and with new MC gangs pushing their way through the country old territory lines are being moved with or without the consent of the old guard.
In January the tit-for-tat began. Two arson attacks and smashed windows on the barbershop and two homes with links to both gangs were shot-up with a semiautomatic rifle, one had children inside.
On Tuesday, across the city, in the small settlement of Omanawa on the outskirts of Tauranga, two men, one a member of the Head Hunter’s, were killed. An arrest was made in Christchurch on Friday in connection with the case.
And on Thursday a man was shot dead by police after a short chase. The man was a person of interest in the double homicide and had sprayed police with gunfire from his vehicle. It is not known whether this shooting is related to the recent spate of gang violence in Tauranga. But what is clear is that the fire that brought in the new year has also heralded a shift in the gang landscape in New Zealand.
It was a change predicted two years ago by Mongrel Mob Kingdom president Sonny Fatu when he attempted to bring the Mob and the Black Power together to protect their patch against the invaders.
The invaders he referred to back then were the motorcycle biker gangs, like the Mongols, which came amid the wave of deportees from Australia.
Kiwi ex-pats who had failed good character tests across the ditch found themselves with a free passage back home and gang methods from the Lucky Country. Dubbed the 501s after a legislative number, a small percentage of those who were turfed out of Australia came home with a patch not well known in New Zealand. Their style of gang life is also new to those who had been around to witness the all out war between the Mongrel Mob and Black Power in the 70s and 80s.
The problem sent here by Australia is now New Zealand’s to fix – but there is no silver bullet, gang researcher Dr Jarrod Gilbert says.
He believes social and economic factors lie at the heart of the problem robust policies in those sectors have a better chance of sorting gang issues, rather than just throwing the book at patched members.
But while communities grapple with the killings and Police Minister Stuart Nash backs an arming of Tauranga police amid the tensions, the city’s mayor Tenby Powell, says he and his residents are living in fear.
MONGOL MC VS THE MONGREL MOB
The Mongol MC gang, led by president Jack Thacker set up in the Bay of Plenty in 2018. It is understood he owns the Bladed n Faded barbershop.
Thacker, 28, a former president of a Bandidos chapter in Queensland, is among hundreds deported to New Zealand since 2014 after changes to Australian immigration law.
Strife between the Mongrel Mob and the Mongols became evident on New Year’s eve when the Bladed n Faded Barbershop was purposely set alight.
Two weeks later, the shop was vandalised, with windows smashed. Days later another arson attack gutted the business, affecting two neighbouring proprietors.
It is believed the arson attacks prompted retaliation by the Mongols who are believed to be behind the shooting of a Tauranga property linked to the Mongrel
Mob. The home was peppered with with bullets from a semi-automatic rifle. Children were present at the Hairini address when the attack happened.
Later the same day a Mongol MC home in Te Puke was also peppered with bullets. There were no reported injuries in both incidents.
Trouble between the gangs began when the Mongols started running business ventures in Tauranga City.
Gang protocol requires newly established gangs to first negotiate with local gangs for permission to set up. It’s understood the Mongols had done this with the local Mongrel Mob in Te Puke, but not their expansion into Tauranga, a move that upset a delicate balance.
When the gang scales get tipped out of equilibrium, it’s often felt more in the Bay of Plenty than elsewhere – the district harbours the most gang members in the country, according to police figures.
The Bay of Plenty had 1359 gang members both patched and prospecting, according to stats from Aug 2019, 412 more than its nearest rival, the Eastern District.
Since 2016 gang membership had increased by 50 per cent. It’s a figure patched gang members say is evident on the street.
‘‘It’s getting busy in Tauranga,’’ a gang source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.
The source told Stuff that the Mongols were stepping into territory that did not belong to them.
‘‘One day you’re ruling your patch and next thing ya know you’ve got someone moving into your home,’’ he said. ‘‘So now you have strangers in your home and now they’re going after your job and getting your money… you see where I’m going with this.’’
The source said the general public had nothing to fear: ‘‘If you’re not in the gangs then you’ll be right.’’
Gang tensions aren’t isolated to Bay of Plenty. Across the country there have been serious incidents, particularly in the Eastern and Central police districts, in recent months. There are regularly gangrelated shootings, stabbings, kidnappings, assaults, standovers and taxings that escape the public eye.
It is understood that a gang-initiated leaders summit will be organised in the coming weeks to try to sort the issues.
TWO SHOOTINGS, THREE DEAD
The most intense burst of violence in the ongoing gang confrontation involved the killings in Omanawa near McLaren Falls on the outskirts of Tauranga of two men understood to be Nick Littlewood, 32, and
Paul Lasslett, 43.
Littlewood, a member of the Head Hunters gang, was remembered fondly by those close to him, online. One woman said her faith in humanity was low after his death. She thanks him for ‘‘Making me laugh and rescuing me from all sorts of seedy situations’’.
Lasslett, a builder, owned the property where the shooting happened. He was a father of one and had recently become a grandfather days before he was gunned down.
A woman who paid tribute to him online late Wednesday said she would miss his ‘‘smiling face and quick wit’’.
Court documents show Lasslett has previous convictions for drug related offending. It is understood the deaths are not related to a wider confrontation between the Mob and the Mongols in Tauranga.
Police are yet to release any details of the man killed by them after opening fire at officers on Thursday night.
THE GAME HAS CHANGED
Waikato Mongrel Mob president Sonny Fatu said the gang landscape has changed and the violence being unleashed is at a level he has never experienced before in New Zealand.
Fatu said the old wars between the ‘mob and the blacks’ are nothing compared to the new gang landscape that has arrived in New Zealand.
‘‘Is there going to be more shootings? Absolutely. This is something I’ve never experienced. The game has changed,’’ Fatu said. ‘‘When we were battling it out with the Blacks, that battle was not over money. It was about prestige, manawhenua, and identity because we had to reestablish that because of colonisation and how the ripple effects of that affected different sectors of society. Society created the gangs.
‘‘And the fighting between us was about re-establishing our identity, a sense of belonging after leaving our whenua through that colonisation context. And while you’re out in the wilderness you bump into people like you and you form groups, and the biggest group was Black Power and Mongrel Mob.
‘‘That’s why back in that era you had people willing to die for the cause, but the playing field has changed. Now life is not worth anything, it’s like in America, gang life in LA- life means nothing. People kill people for a nickle or a dime.’’
Fatu said with the 501s making their presence felt the way in which police operate needs to change as the old ways of keeping the peace were not working with new players.
‘‘I think the public should only be worried if the police don’t sit down and work alongside gangs a lot more productively because they have these policies which basically looks at beating us all and destroying us, when they’re not dealing with the real issues. That style of policing will not deter gangs.
‘‘Oppression is something we are used to. We’ve learnt to roll with the punches time and time again so when they turn around and say they’re going to do this, that and the other things in terms of getting hard on the gangs, we’ll take the hits but it won’t destroy us. We will still keep going because we have nothing else, this is it.
‘‘As long as politicians continue to keep beating these war drums, the problem will not get solved and the problem will further escalate.’’
THIS IS NOT NEW
Gang-expert Dr. Jarrod Gilbert said policies beyond law and order were needed to tackle the gang problem.
Gilbert said rising gang membership in both local and overseas imported gangs has added to the simmering gang tensions and said there is no silver bullet to fix it.
‘‘I don’t think these are isolated incidents, they’re part of a broader pattern,’’ Gilbert said.
‘‘We have been here before, New Zealand has experienced long periods of gang warfare in the past, in the 1970s and 1980s, in particular.
‘‘Those were times when guns were being fired at a far greater rate than they are today. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not unsettling (now), and that it’s not a problem and it is something that we really need to address. The million-dollar question is how we address it.’’
Gilbert says the 501s have had an influence on the gang landscape, but says the number who have actually joined a gang is relatively small.
‘‘They (501s) have established some gangs and those that have come back tend to be fairly influential men and so their smaller number perhaps belies their influence,’’ he said.
‘‘But also that’s occurring within the local gang scene, which is also expanding rapidly so there’s never one factor to put your finger on. ’’
Police Minister Stuart Nash said people should expect to see armed police actively tackling gangs and the drug trade fuelling them.
‘‘Expect to see police wearing their new body armour. Expect to see the Eagle helicopter in the air. Expect to see police executing search warrants at gang properties and stopping vehicles carrying gang members and associates.’’
He said the Government was pouring more resources into policing in Bay of Plenty, and around the country, with a special focus on gangs and organised crime.
‘OUR CITY IS NOT A COMBAT ZONE’
Tauranga Mayor Tenby Powell told Stuff the city is in a state of fear and anger over the spate of gang violence in town.
‘‘Every week for a month now we’ve allegedly had gang activity in town,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a case of here we go again – our city is not a combat zone.
‘‘Really, I think I’m angry is a euphemism for I’m scared,’’ he said. ‘‘There is real fear out there in the community.
‘‘From now it appears to be gangs shooting gangs but it is only a matter of time before collateral damage will spill into civilian lives.’’
His sentiments are echoed by Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller who said the type of gang violence being perpetrated in Tauranga has never been seen before.
Muller said the violence has increased since the influx of the 501s from Australia.
‘‘The city has not seen the likes of this before,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s the actions of these guys and their gangland style behaviour that’s making Tauranga feel unsafe. It’s unacceptable gang violence.’’
NO END IN SIGHT
For now, an end to the ongoing gang tensions in the Bay of Plenty is difficult to predict.
The growth of gang membership will see growing pains play out publicly.
‘‘It’s difficult to say how long the violence within the gang scene that we’re seeing at the moment, will last,’’ Gilbert said.
‘‘But if this gang scene is still growing, then we can’t expect to get on top of it anytime soon. But again, it does need to be kept in some sort of perspective, it’s very easy to become incredibly alarmist about this. The number of gang disputes are still relatively small and they are isolated to gang activity. They don’t tend to involve outsiders. And so we’ve got to be careful we don’t make this a far bigger problem than in reality it is.’’
‘‘New Zealand faces a huge number of massive problems that relate to law and order and the gangs are just a small part of that.’’