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.
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.
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...Continue reading
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