Prison meth ring leader out of jail
A seasoned gangster who ran a methamphetamine ring while serving jail time, using finance from his mother – a now-former justice of the peace – is free after 19 years in prison.
Brian Paul Taylor’s long sting inside is why the Parole Board is keen to keep a close eye on him as he readjusts to a very different society than the one he left when he became an inmate in 2003.
Taylor initially went inside for minor offending, but his stretch lengthened significantly after he was convicted of a cornucopia of crimes.
He lined up then-Mongrel Mob president Sovite Su’a with a .22 rifle fitted with a telescopic sight before shooting him in the leg in February 2003.
Sovite Su’a is the brother of fellow Mobsters Jeremiah and Mariota Su’a, who are both serving time for killing another Mobster, Codi Wilkinson, in 2019.
Shooting Sovite Su’a was a revenge attack by Taylor, then a Black Power member, for the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Whatuira Wallace a year earlier.
Taylor committed an aggravated robbery the same month by breaking into a different Mobster’s house, beating him and stealing his gang patch.
He decided to start up a meth ring, purely to make money, while serving a 14-year lag in Manawatū Prison for those earlier offences.
His mother Marlene, a Justice of the Peace, provided finance and was jailed for three years and five months and stripped of her title for her involvement.
Zion Cody Kingston Pene was the primary pusher of product outside prison.
All three were jailed for their involvement, with Taylor the last one to be released.
He was close to freedom in December 2021, with the Parole Board noting there had been a marked change in Taylor’s attitude.
According to a report provided to Stuff after a hearing this month, the Parole Board was satisfied that attitude change was not a flash in the pan. ‘‘For many years, Mr Taylor had adopted a degree of hostility towards the ‘system’ but since he had realised that there was a need to change his behaviour his progress has been marked,’’ the board said.
He was living in a self-care unit, given a workshop where he could work as a carver and generally been given responsibility to look after himself.
His history meant he was regarded as high risk of reoffending, but he had significant community support to aid him upon release, including a psychologist.
But spending so long in prison left the board needing to put special conditions in place, which would run until June 2023.
He was banned from associating with Black Power or Tribesman gangs, contacting victims of his offending, drugs, alcohol and a co-offender whose name was redacted from the report.
He will also be electronically monitored for four months, unable to leave home between 8pm and 8am, and has to attend a monitoring hearing in September so the board can check on his progress.