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Thread: NZ Myths Exposed - No.3 - Gangs

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  1. #1
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    Default NZ Myths Exposed - No.3 - Gangs

    Last one for this week - Gangs.

    I see a lot of news stories about gangs - drive by shootings (i.e that little girl shot on her sofa a few months back), revenge killings, P-production and in-fighting between rival gangs (I think the mains ones are called Mongrel Mob and Black Power - pls correct me if I'm wrong).

    I know there are gang elements across NZ and I was totally unaware of this before we came here. I also didn't realise just how far down in to society it seemed to go - even round here you don't just start talking about the Mongrel Mob or B.Power - people look startled and do that sort of "look around to see who heard you" action.

    However, apart from the news it doesn't affect me, or my immediate environment. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the gangs to know their roots etc, often that helps in understanding these groups.

    Does the gang culture in NZ affect you and your lives? Does it worry you when you see it on the news or is it so localised as to only affect you if you live in the "wrong" area?

  2. #2
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    I'll add a bit to this one. The gangs in Hawke's Bay seem to be mainly Maori. I was listening to a lady speaking about the issue on the radio last week and she seems to think that it is an American influence and some Maori are looking for something to identify with and this happened to be it. Her opinion but I think it’s a much bigger issue.

    I find the whole subject fascinating and as I work with some of the Bloods at school, I feel it’s my duty to gain some sort of understanding in order to have, or at least try to have, a positive influence on their lives.

    This is a very interesting article for anyone interested.
    http://www.nzedge.com/features/ar-denis01.html

    Now, more importantly for people on the forum who haven’t arrived, how big an issue is it in our everyday lives. So far for us, as a family, gangs have had no influence….. none what so ever. On the odd occasion you see a few youngsters in their colours in town, not often though. I have walked past them and felt no threat from them at all. They have a gang house on the outskirts of town where they all hang out and although we have driven past it on many occasion, I have never even seen movement in there.

    In school there are a few members of the Bloods, these are the young version of the Mongrel Mob, the wanabes. They stick to themselves and don’t cause problems for the other kids in school. The only threat they seem to represent are to other Maori kids by trying to drag them into the gang scene. I have a boy in my form that is heavily involved, he’s a good enough kid but his father died when he was young and his mum is very poorly. He seems to get the support he needs from this life.

    So should it put you off coming to live in the town where I live? Absolutely not. Here at least, they just don’t cause any problems.

    Be interested to hear anyone else’s comments about their towns.

  3. #3

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    Sorry if this is a dumb question, but are there a lot of skinheads in New Zealand? I remember reading about some skinheads bashing a tourist in Wellington a week or so back. And I've read somewhere that there is are a lot of skinheads in Christchurch.

    Brian

  4. #4
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    I can report that I haven't seen any here in Hawke's Bay in the 7 months we've been here. There are loads of others on the forum from this area and I sure they can add to this if they have a difference experience.

  5. #5
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  6. #6
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    I have not see any gangs in christchurch yet too Moorf.
    But my sister unfortunately experienced lots of gang wars at her schools where she teach. Mostly at school in south auckland where she had experienced "shut down" lots mean teachers on hearing alarm warnings, had to lock up their own classroom to keep their school children safety during bad attacks or got gunmen escaped from nearby...
    She now in north of auckland's school and got some children belong to gangs in her school but rarely "shut down" compare with south auckland where lots of gangs lived...mostly of them are maori.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by nippa&pippa View Post
    But my sister unfortunately experienced lots of gang wars at her schools
    In this sense we are fortunate that we only have the one gang in our town, so gang wars aren't an issue. Maybe more of an issue in the larger towns or cities where there is gang rivalry.

  8. #8
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    My friend was doing her groceries at Botany the other day (mid afternoon, with her daughter) and there was a large group of Black power members wandering round, making unsavoury comments to the female staff and generally being very loud & obnoxious. She felt a bit threatened by the atmosphere, and finished up pretty quick.

    Personally not come across it, but we are reasonably close to Otara/Otahuhu/Flatbush which are known to be trouble spots.

  9. #9
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    Not spotted any gang activity in Cambridge, but I work in Tokoroa which is meant to have quite a lot of gang problems. However, I have never seen any sign of it, I just see very poor people trying to get by, but no evidence of anything threatening.

  10. #10
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    Default Hell's Angels Gang

    I think there needs to be a distinction of what type of 'gang' we refer to? Typically the public views gangs are those that cause trouble in the streets doing petty crimes - grafitti to theft. Then there are the 'organised crime' gangs that the majority of us will never see or hear.

    I've heard about the Mungral and skinhead gangs in NZ but don't know their true nature. Are they organised? What's their purpose? What keeps them going?

    The ones I would be more concerned about are the young juvenille kids that walk the streets doing petty crimes such as grafitti and theftwork. Their actions directly affect the community and serve a different purpose to the organised types.

    Those that are familiar with the Hell's Angel's Gang will know that they are a truely organised crime group. You could say they are too smart for the police. Quite often they don't directly do the dirty work but instead, they employ "chapter" syndicates to do the deeds - this way the police can never hold any Hell's Angel's member accountable.

    Some years ago in Canada, the RCMP announced they would directly attack the Hell's Angel's Gang. In the small town where I grew up was a local chapter gang called the Renegades. These members were comprised of local no good people - often those that were highschool drop outs and from troubled famlies. Anyways, the RCMP managed a big bust confiscating all sorts of illegal assult weapons to mass amounts of drugs. Many members of the Renegades went to jail and sortly after, many people went missing or killed mafia style. You can read all about it here.

    I suppose the real question is what kind of gangs are we seeing in NZ? The organised type or the young punks in the street type? IMO, if it's the organised type, I don't believe their prescent in NZ is strong enough to have people to worry about. Afterall, they're only businessmen - if the public doesn't buy their drugs, then they would pull out of the NZ market and focus on big countries.

    It could be worse in other nations where shop owners have to pay a 'protection fee' to the local mafia instead of buying a private insurance plan. I don't think any developed nation has gangs to this level yet.

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