War Declared on Maori Mobs

Kiwi gangbusters are cracking down on violent gangs.

Violence And Law

less behaviour by mainly Maori gangs will have to stop or else, New Zealand’s new Police Minister has warned. He is Mr Michael Tapsell, former Minister for Internal Affairs, and it’s one of the most con tentious issues he faces.

One of the first appoint ments kept by Mr Tapsell in his new portfolio was with police commissioner Mai Churches to discuss the grow ing problem of gang behav iour. Later, he said: “We have all had a gutful of the mind less violence and thuggery of some gang members, and I am determined that it will be stopped dead in its tracks.”

While police would bend over backwards to assist gangs involved in law-abiding ac tivities, they would get lough with lawlessness. It would be “dealt with immediately and severely”, the minister added.

The Police Minister is par ticularly worried by a number

of violent deaths among rival gang members in the past two or three years, some through wild use of firearms. But aside from deaths, there has been a growing incidence of violence not only between gangs but involving innocent members of the public.

At a nationwide convention of the Mongrel Mob near Auckland last Decernber a 19-year-old woman was violently packraped by up to 20 Mongrel Mob members who seized the part-Maori vietim in broad daylight from a nearby street, Five Mongrel Mobsters have since been jailed and the Crown is appealing that some of the sentences, which range from five to seven years, are too light.

But in rural communities where some chapters of the gangs are based residents desenbe stand-over tact.cs, bullying, intimidation and other threatening behaviour against witnesses where charges have been brought against gang members for crimes such as burglary, arson and violence.

Other chapters were caught last year cheating government-funded work schemes and picking up thousands of dollars per member for a few days work.

Public anxiety about the gangs has increased rapidly. Citizens of Manukau City

near Auckland, including Mayor Barry Curtis, are outraged by the Black Power gang’s determination to stage a convention there this month, nearly a year after the Mongrel Mob’s Ambury Park gathering where they had been put on a good behaviour bond. Abe Wharewaka, president of the powerful South Auckland chapter of the Black Power gang, intends to hold the gathering in The Factory, the gang’s bar- Headed headquarters.

“On the grounds of public safety (the convention) should be abandoned,” dedares Mayor Curtis. He is worried that Black Power plans to bring in 1500 people, 10 times the Mongrel Mob turnout. Wharewaka, who is never photographed without dark glasses, has replied that the gang will build its own temporary jail inside the compound to pun.sh any members - or “patch-carriers” who step outside Black Power’s own strict rules of behaviour.

By late August however it seemed the convention would go ahead because city officials have no power to ban it. (Mr Curtis’ attitude is not shared by his deputy mayor, Maori Kuku Wawatai, who says Maori and Pacific Island councillors support the convention. Mr Wawatai blames this “upset in society” on people who think badly of the gangs.)

Even behind bars gang members may remain dangerous, according to their crit ics. They cite the late August decision by the superintendent of New Zealand’s maximum security prison near Auckland to allow more Mongrel Mob members to gether in the same block.

Though the prison officers in the block approved the scheme after their numbers were strengthened, their colleagues in other blocks say that the Mongrel Mob will soon run the prison.

Police have long been anxious for a crac kd own on gang violence. A police re porttothe 1986 Roper committee on viol ence identified gangs as a major problem in law enforcement The government has s - nce acce p tec j t h e committee’s recom mpnriotirm« fnr much tnnpher penalties for o f v i o i ence * , . . . .

Ma ? n elc * ers have ar 8 e Y en ‘ dorsedthe tougher measures —oral least not argued against them- more rad,ca Maori spokespeople claim they represent a w “ lte back as Meantime only a perfectly behaved gang convention on October 26, Labour Day, would avoid providing extra fuel for the aw a °d order lobby. □

Gangs such as the Black Power Gypsies are on the new Minister’s hit list.