- há 19 horas
With the world's highest markups, New Zealand is a top destination for meth. The impact of South American cartels and an Australian immigration law has led to bloody turf wars.
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00:01International organized crime has no natural predator.
00:06Crime syndicates are expanding and forging alliances across the globe.
00:15As law enforcement struggle to stop them, up to 5% of the global economy is now in criminal hands.
00:23I'm Paul Radu and for the past 20 years I have investigated international organized crime.
00:30It's going to have 400 billion and this is a very, very small slice of what's really going on.
00:36I think there are some people, let's go, let's go.
00:40In this series I'm working with a team of reporters around the world.
00:44Are you angry with yourself for being part of this?
00:48To discover how a generation of international gangs are redrawing the criminal map.
01:10Sinaloa is plagued by laboratories in all the sierra.
01:16We are in what is called a clandestine laboratory,
01:23where we work at night,
01:26because in the day there is more surveillance.
01:29That's why we're in connection.
01:35Rápidamente,
01:36with the wind of a v bidder that drove by the soldiers,
01:41you can see that side up and quickly
01:45the soldiers who have been destroyed
01:48or the marine army is very sick,
01:48and they are destroyed and they're all in the laboratory.
01:53It can explode,
01:55they use liquid and chemicals
01:57that are extremely dangerous.
01:59An explosion can damage
02:02or kill a person.
02:07It's very toxic.
02:09You can intoxicate
02:10and you have to be sure
02:11that you put blood pressure.
02:15It's not that bad,
02:16it's not that bad,
02:17it attacks the breathing.
02:20It's still getting wet.
02:22You have to freeze everything.
02:26We have about 25 kilos
02:29and the process we were doing
02:33is about 25 kilos.
02:36The Sinaloa are Mexico's
02:39most ruthless and powerful drug cartel.
02:41They've been trafficking
02:42tons of meth to America for years,
02:45but they are now targeting
02:46a far more lucrative market
02:47on the other side of the world.
02:50Here in Sinaloa,
02:51a kilo of crystal
02:52costs 1,500 dólares.
02:54In the United States,
02:55the kilo comes from 4,000...
03:00We don't have to send this product
03:02to the United States.
03:04In New Zealand,
03:05we have a client
03:07of 40,000 dollars per kilo
03:09and another 45,000 dollars per kilo.
03:11we are selling it.
03:13We are selling it.
03:15We are selling it.
03:16that is a really important thing.
03:19We are selling a little bit
03:21and you have to take a few more
03:22on that one.
03:23We are selling it on the line.
03:50To outwit and overwhelm New Zealand customs, the Sinaloa now traffic hundreds of smaller
03:56packages of meth on a regular basis.
04:25Maximizing profit is key to the Sinaloa's global
04:28expansion.
04:29A kilo of meth in New Zealand wholesales 10 times higher than the American market.
04:35It's so lucrative, the Sinaloa have pioneered a new global trafficking route, smuggling
04:41their products 7,000 miles across the Pacific to New Zealand.
04:47The Sinaloa drug cartel, they're really, really everywhere.
04:51They're one of the most powerful organized crime gangs on earth.
04:54They've murdered so many people.
04:58They've left so many bodies.
05:00Everybody who does anything against them is dead.
05:06A group like the Sinaloa would always be on the lookout for new markets.
05:13They're bringing meth, sure, but they're bringing a way of life that's associated with meth.
05:19So that will be ultimately really, really bad for the society in New Zealand.
05:25The Sinaloa is powerful because it operates across so many frontiers.
05:29It's a virus that once inside the country will just grow and affect more and more people and more walks
05:38of life and more people will suffer.
05:44The influx of meth is wreaking havoc in my home country.
05:48I want to find out how this drug is changing the face of New Zealand.
05:54I've come to meet a street dealer and some users.
06:18Can I ask you, where does this product come from?
06:22Um, you can ask, but let me tell you.
06:26Who is using meth?
06:29What type of people?
06:31Everyone.
06:32Yeah.
06:32Every class.
06:33Every class is on it.
06:35Some people who are poor as they'll use everything they've got.
06:39There's lawyers.
06:41There's doctors.
06:42There's businessmen.
06:44And I'm talking like hundreds of millions of dollars businessmen.
06:47There's people that will be in court defending people today who have had a path this morning.
06:52There will be.
06:52I know that.
06:54Politicians that I've been in the same room with at the same time.
06:58I can't name you a class of people or a particular profession that's immune.
07:02I don't know one.
07:03There isn't one.
07:05It's throughout New Zealand society.
07:07Are gangs pushing the drug around like we've been seeing or hearing about in the media?
07:13They claim not to be, but whatever each individual gang member does is what they're going to do.
07:21The gangs are involved at a wholesale level.
07:23I wouldn't mention names, but you know who's running the show.
07:27They claim a vicious turf war is taking place amongst New Zealand's gangs to control meth distribution.
07:40Gangs are growing at the fastest rate since the 1970s.
07:44It's thought the huge profits being made from methamphetamine is behind the leap in numbers.
07:51Have you had any bad experiences?
07:54I've been stabbed in the stomach, legs, arms, neck, toes, head, face, everywhere pretty much.
08:02It's not going to stop me.
08:04It's no deterrent.
08:06I'll always be a method.
08:08You were stabbed.
08:10Mm-hmm.
08:11It involved a knife and, you know.
08:22The mongle mob and black power are New Zealand's largest and most powerful gangs.
08:30Both have a fearsome reputation for violence and both have hundreds of foot soldiers.
08:38They've been fighting over territory for decades.
08:43But now, the billions to be made from the meth trade has ignited a powder keg.
08:49A series of killings involving the mongle mob are being described as gang warfare.
08:59I have family and friends living in areas affected by the violence.
09:04One of the most notorious leaders has agreed to meet me.
09:09I'm going to meet the leader of the Waikato mongle mob chapter.
09:14His name is Sunny Whatu.
09:16The mongle mob are one of the original gangs here in New Zealand.
09:19Ever since the start of the mongle mob and the black power here in New Zealand,
09:26those two gangs have been rival gangs and have been involved in some really gruesome violent attacks,
09:34shootings, stabbings, the works.
09:37Sunny himself, he's served many years in prison.
09:41He was involved in torturing a person.
09:48So we're just about to pull up right now, I believe.
09:52It is one of these buildings.
09:56Sunny set up his own wing of the mongle mob in 2013.
10:05I'm feeling right now a little nervous, if I'm honest.
10:15Why the surveillance? I just have to ask that.
10:20We've had the experience of one of our brothers here, who have had a shooting at his place.
10:25And it was a nasty shooting.
10:27So we have to protect the people from in here to what's going on out there.
10:35We may seem like we're civilised here, but, you know, we're gangsters.
10:39At the end of the day, we just know how to control our anger.
10:44Sunny claims the shooting is not drug-related, but happened during a burglary of a gang member's home.
10:51He maintains he's totally opposed to the meth trade.
10:56I don't like it. I didn't do it. I didn't sell it.
11:01The damages, the family coming in. Dad's this, mum's that.
11:07We haven't got food. We're getting abused. Whatever. I don't like it.
11:14And I must say that, you know, I took some hard lines, you know, where I got myself involved in
11:21the drug world.
11:25In what way?
11:27In those days, it was just marijuana. Really the drug of choice.
11:30It was never about making money.
11:32Sunny claims he carries out drug tests on his 600-strong gang to enforce his zero tolerance on meth.
11:40How I lead is I tell people what I'm doing.
11:44I just do what I have to do for the betterment of our people.
11:48What's the beef between the Black Power and the Mongol mob?
11:52Why is so much rivalry for so long?
11:57Can we just hold it for a minute?
11:59Yeah.
11:59I just want to know. Is that the police?
12:06They might be coming to see because of the shooting that happened at his house.
12:09It's a nasty one. The investigation is still going.
12:12So they give him an update.
12:14Oh, okay.
12:14You know, they know who it is.
12:17Wow.
12:19Oh, we live a gangster life.
12:25The Black Power and the Mongol mob.
12:27Where does that come from? The hate towards women?
12:30Well, it was all about just protecting your brotherhood.
12:34Protecting your circle.
12:36On top of all that was all the oppression that came on from society, you know, from the system.
12:43We had one of our members, unfortunately, who was killed in Wanganui.
12:51Who was he killed by?
12:52Well, he was killed by the opposition. He was killed by the Black Power.
12:56When is it ever going to stop?
12:58Have you ever killed a person?
13:03I haven't killed anybody with my hands.
13:06You know, I've given a few people a few facelifts just because they, you know, wanted to bring it on.
13:14So I did what I had to do.
13:17This is why I feel now that I've got nothing to prove.
13:21I've got nothing to prove.
13:23You know, in terms of getting out there and showing people who I am in terms of being the bad
13:28as, you know, muck me around.
13:31All I want to do now is I just want to heal our people now.
13:37Sunny maintains he's turned his back on violence and drugs.
13:42But other members of the mungo mob are involved in a power struggle to control the meth trade.
13:53In March 2020, a young mungo mob member fired several rounds at the police in the town of Kawiro.
14:06In 2017, a fistfight involving the two gangs turned into a gunfight.
14:17The same year in the town of Whakatane, shots were fired and violence erupted.
14:23After a funeral procession of a mungo mob leader tried to pass through territory controlled by the Black Power gang.
14:38I was actually born in Whakatane, but shortly after my grandparents brought me to Auckland and raised me in total
14:46immersion Māori education.
14:48So in a sense, I know I'm really lucky because a lot of my family members who stayed back home
14:55either ended up in gangs or affiliated to them.
14:59What's worse is that in 2020, gang violence, shootings and meth use, it's all spiralling out of control, especially in
15:10Whakatane.
15:13I've come to meet the Black Power gang in Whakatane.
15:17TK White inherited the leadership when his father passed away in 2019.
15:32I will say this, I didn't get along with the man one, but...
15:38He's a double murderer.
15:40He's a double murderer.
15:41I went to jail twice for that.
15:42That's the background of the man.
15:44That's the background he came from.
15:47Before he was actually on his way to jail the last time, he said,
15:49I see two pathways in front of you.
15:52One is good, one is bad.
15:54Both will make you great.
15:56I hope you take the good one.
16:02Today, a new member is joining Black Power.
16:06This is the first time they've allowed TV cameras to film one of their initiations.
16:11So, we're at Ohine Mataroa River, which is in Whakatane.
16:17And we're about to undergo a special ceremony, which is a traditional karakia or prayer service.
16:24And it's part of a rite of passage, I think, for the members of this group.
16:30TK, Te Kuru White is taking it, so...
16:34I've been roped into it.
16:35I was not expecting to be a part of it, but I am going to get in the river in
16:41my shorts.
16:42And it is spring, it is cold, but it's okay.
16:45This is what we've got to do.
16:46So, here we go.
16:47Follow me.
17:11In Maori culture, water is viewed as the essence of life.
17:16Rivers connect you to your ancestors, the tribal lands they once owned, and traditional values they held.
17:23Rikite whare puke ngare ua, rikite whare tapu a iota pata patu.
17:37Kia tunturuvamaua, kia tina.
17:39Tina.
17:41Taiki.
17:44You were very fortunate today.
17:46That was beautiful.
17:48For me, it's a way to reconnect with my family history and the area I left as a child.
18:03No, I'm not patched in.
18:05I'm not Black Power.
18:06Let's make that very clear.
18:08But I am Maori, so what just happened is not necessarily a gang thing.
18:12It's Maori culture in its purest and truest form.
18:17And yes, I'm wet, but that's okay.
18:25This is a hang.
18:27This is our traditional cooking method.
18:29Our ancestors would sometimes cook the enemies.
18:32It wasn't about cannibalism, it was about being able to absorb their energy.
18:38The hole is covered with dirt, so you've got an underground pressure cooker.
18:43If it's not cooked, cover it up and go to KFC.
18:47Many Maori joined gangs in the 1970s seeking safety in numbers after suffering years of racial discrimination and poverty.
18:5630 years ago, I had nowhere to go.
18:59The culture then was hard.
19:02We were gangstas then.
19:04We're gangstas now, but not as ruthless as we were before.
19:07Did you get into fights?
19:09Heaps.
19:10I lost more fights than I won.
19:13It actually made me stronger.
19:16These guys here, they taught me how to survive.
19:18It wasn't all about just gang warfare drugs in those days.
19:24Did you sell drugs?
19:26Yep.
19:28Marijuana.
19:29That's all we had there, was marijuana.
19:32Not the shit they got now.
19:35Not all drug dealers are gang members, and not all gang members are drug dealers.
19:39I mean, I've been there, done that.
19:41It's water under the bridge now, you know.
19:44So I've gone on the other side there, and I'm the one that's going to point you away from the
19:49harms of meth.
19:50How do you both feel about methamphetamine?
19:54It's destroying our families.
19:57You're destroying our community.
19:59Our community.
20:00A lot of our generation are all dying as a result of meth.
20:03And since 2014, we lost something like 10, 12 agents to meth.
20:12But it's how horrific the violence is.
20:17There have been quite horrific stories come out of not just Whakatane, but across the Bay of Plenty in terms
20:23of what methamphetamine and how it's affecting.
20:28Everything that's happened in, they'll say, like, the last month here, have all been meth-related.
20:33What's been happening here?
20:35Well, you know, there's been a shootout. There was a shooting last week.
20:41People, like, just looking for a fight.
20:49Gang wars are no longer about local rivalry, but a vast interconnected web of criminal activity that spans the globe.
21:00What the Sinaloa does very well is always team up with the local criminal gangs in New Zealand.
21:09You have these competing gangs, and suddenly you have someone bigger coming into the market and picking allies, right?
21:18When you look at the connections, it's not just one type of connection.
21:22It's multiple roles at the same time, and it's very, very fluid as well.
21:27And this is where feuds start and fights between organized crime groups and, you know, everybody wants a bit more.
21:33And that ignites these violent clashes.
21:37So this is not a world of peace. It's a world of conflict.
21:49New Zealand's 1200 customs officers have been overwhelmed by the influx of meth from Mexico in the last two years.
21:58Try not to get run over.
22:05I've been doing this job for 37 years, and I never thought I would see quantities of drugs like this.
22:11It's mind-blowing.
22:13The Mexican drug cartels see New Zealanders as the golden nugget.
22:17They're the most lucrative market, and they're wanting to own that market.
22:21In the 1990s, one kilo of drugs was a really big seizure.
22:25Last year, we seized over a tonne of methamphetamine.
22:31They are really sophisticated.
22:33If you can think about it, they've done it.
22:35We've seen methamphetamine mixed within concrete.
22:38We've seen methamphetamine in liquid form, impregnation in clothing,
22:42chemically altered so that it's not methamphetamine, but you add another chemical to it, that changes it back to drugs.
22:50So these guys are really clever.
22:52We've just got to get smarter.
22:56And what did that come in?
22:57This methamphetamine was concealed inside electric generators that weighed in excess of 250 kilos each.
23:04Once you knew how to get into them, it was quite easy.
23:07But getting them there was really difficult, figuring it out.
23:10Yeah.
23:12That there is quite dense, and that makes me to believe there may be a drug concealment inside there.
23:21What is that?
23:22This is blocks of compressed methamphetamine.
23:24They came inside plastic stacking pallets.
23:28Each pallet had 80 of these concealments built into the pallet.
23:33What?
23:34They don't come with an instruction manual that says, here's the drugs.
23:38The Sinaloa Cartel are not the only new international players in New Zealand's multi-million dollar meth market.
23:46The traditional New Zealand adult gangs, which were Black Power, Munger Mob,
23:51they're being challenged with an influx of new gangs.
23:53So you've got Australian deportees.
23:55They are bringing the level of sophistication and tradecraft and connections that they've built up over many years.
24:01They are coming into New Zealand, setting up, and that's causing tension within the gang environment.
24:06Yeah.
24:06The business model, as I understand it, is to undercut other gangs.
24:10Use extreme violence.
24:14Australia's tough new laws mean that hundreds of Kiwis are being deported.
24:18All non-citizens who fail a character test are sent home.
24:23There was a notification in the compounds.
24:26People were stabbed.
24:28And it was between Islanders and Iranians.
24:33And I think there were seven people stabbed in the neck and in the back.
24:38Shit's kicking off here.
24:40People on edge.
24:42A detainee called Josh has emailed me a video from inside an Australian deportation centre.
24:49People on edge.
24:51And they're starting to turn into race wars.
24:54I mean, this is way worse than prison.
24:56Like, shit.
24:57I don't think I've ever seen seven people get stabbed.
25:00It's a powder keg and it's about to erupt.
25:04These videos haven't seen the light of day.
25:07And I'm a journalist in New Zealand.
25:12This is gold.
25:14It's very rare to get evidence from inside a deportation centre.
25:20I'm interested to learn more about what just went down there.
25:2429-year-old Josh left New Zealand for Australia aged two and hasn't been back since.
25:30He's served eight years in prison for assaulting a drug dealer.
25:35He claims he wants to go straight but is now surrounded by biker gangs in an immigration centre
25:40as he waits to be deported to New Zealand.
25:45Police!
25:45Over the door!
25:47Over the door now!
25:48Get on the ground!
25:51The Australian police has been cracking down on these biker gangs
25:55who have well-established global connections in the meth trade.
25:58Since 2015, Section 501 of the Migration Act means any non-citizens accused of engaging in criminal activity can be
26:08deported.
26:12Thousands of 501s have been sent back to New Zealand.
26:19In the case of Australia, they are dumping their crime problem to New Zealand and it's a short-term solution
26:26that's going to bring a longer-term problem.
26:29Organized crime is unfortunately very often the first to offer a way out.
26:36By deporting people who've committed crimes, you're just exporting crime.
26:42You're creating a bigger problem because now these people know how to set up a network.
26:48They will keep on growing their networks and they will enlist new soldiers.
26:52So, you don't dismantle a network in that way.
26:56You actually create a network in that way.
26:59Some of the most successful criminals, you know, are criminals who get deported from place to place.
27:05You're creating a bigger problem for New Zealand.
27:1524 hours later, I've managed to reach Josh inside the deportation centre in Perth, Western Australia.
27:24Here we go.
27:33Kia ora.
27:34Kia ora.
27:35How are you?
27:37I've been in segregation for the last 16 weeks now, I think.
27:41Have you got caught up in any sort of scuffles or violence?
27:46Have people attacked you while you've been in there?
27:48People that have attacked me in here?
27:50The people that are supposed to look after us in here, which is the officers.
27:56I've been subject to brutality, excessive force.
28:00As I came out of the mess, they blocked off the exit gate and I was kind of like, what's
28:04going on here?
28:04And the officers approached me and they said, oh, you've got to come with us.
28:07So I'm like, hang on, hang on. Tell me what I've done wrong.
28:09And then, before I knew it, riot officers with shields and riot gear on and pad of armour and stuff,
28:16rushing into me.
28:18Detained me, dragged me out this side gate, dropped me on my face on the ground.
28:23I remember hearing one of them say, oh, he's got a knife.
28:27And he had no knife.
28:29So then I was accompanying down to the segregation where you go for 23 hour lockdown.
28:34And then they dived on me, made me in the back, elbows in the back of my head.
28:39They almost broke my back pretty much.
28:41Did anyone get reprimanded for that?
28:44I tried to put in a complaint.
28:48We just can't win against these guys.
28:50Because I've laughed out a few times towards life and because of the severity of the crimes
28:56when I went to prison in the first place, they deem me a high risk.
28:59Can we talk about who you are leaving behind there in Western Australia?
29:04I'm leaving behind my father, my mother, both my grandparents on both sides,
29:12and the most important one, my wife.
29:17But I'm more scared about joining a gang than me having nothing but friends that I've met in detention.
29:23That is my main concern.
29:25It's a high risk situation.
29:27The Australian Border Force cannot comment on Josh's case,
29:31but say they have stringent reporting requirements and oversight
29:35to ensure force is not used arbitrarily or illegally.
29:39They are committed to ensuring good order and that detention centres are safe.
29:48Josh wants to avoid gang life.
29:50But an estimated 40% of 501s sent back to New Zealand end up committing crimes.
30:02Members of the outlaw biker gangs deported from Australia
30:05are setting up shop in New Zealand and growing in power
30:09as they recruit more and more 501s.
30:13According to the FBI, the Bandidos, one of the top four bike gangs in the world,
30:18is involved in drug and firearms trafficking.
30:21They established a wing in New Zealand in 2016.
30:30So I've managed to track down the former president of the notorious Bandidos gang,
30:36Hamish Hiroki.
30:38He's one of the very few senior members to have left the gang world.
30:45Hamish was deported from Australia for gun charges several years ago,
30:49but claims the new arrivals are far more violent.
30:53We never had this much of a problem until the 501s started coming back.
30:58You know?
30:59You know, we still had gangs, but the scale of things now is huge.
31:04Like, there's more drugs in New Zealand.
31:06There's a huge mess problem.
31:07A huge mess problem.
31:09Since the 501s have been sent home, things have really escalated
31:17because they've been sent back from Australia
31:20and they're bringing all their connections here.
31:24It's all one big dick-measuring comp.
31:27Who has the most cars, who has the most gold, who has the most drugs.
31:31What do we have now in terms of the scale?
31:34A massive problem.
31:35A massive problem here in New Zealand.
31:39The 501s are signing on with gangs because they have nothing else.
31:44So you can't blame them.
31:46With the clubs and the gangs, when you do sign on,
31:49they will look after you at the start.
31:52You are sold a dream just to get guys purely to sign on.
31:56You know, girls, cars, gold, bikes, you know?
32:00As a lure.
32:02It's all dangling a carrot, you know, to less fortunate guys.
32:07Leaving the notorious bandidos and breaking the gang's code of silence
32:11means Hamish is now a marked man.
32:15Us standing here, are we at risk right now?
32:18Potentially, yeah.
32:20That's quite serious.
32:22What could happen?
32:23Could quite possibly get shot, could get jumped.
32:27You know, there's a number of things, yeah.
32:30That could happen.
32:32I have a lot of enemies around.
32:35Yeah.
32:36Somebody sort of drove past and put three shotgun shells through the front window.
32:41It was just to say, we're a pain in the ass and we pretty much shut the shop down.
32:46Shootings all the time, you know, there was a fella who got shot in the head not so long ago.
32:51You know, we heard nothing about that, you know?
32:54Stuff happens all the time.
32:56Every day?
32:57Yep.
32:58Some of these guys are ruthless.
33:00Looking to earn their colours.
33:01You know, they'll smash down the door.
33:04They don't care fucking who's inside it.
33:1480 police simultaneously raided 10 properties across Auckland linked to the fledgling gang.
33:21Police came away with guns, cars and cash and made a host of arrests.
33:26It's the arrival of a new 501 gang called the Comancheros that has recently led to a brutal turf war.
33:34With connections to Mexican cartels, the police fear they could flood New Zealand with cheaper meth.
33:41They've already enforced a very Mexican style of justice, assassinating a rival.
33:48I've come to meet Jared Savage, crime reporter for the New Zealand Herald.
33:54He's been investigating gangs for decades.
33:58The introduction of a new player, players, like the Comancheros has definitely disrupted things.
34:04They've been quite bold and brash.
34:06There's been an increase in violence, particularly firearms violence.
34:10And yeah, I think that's something that we'll see a lot more of in the future as well.
34:13That's actually quite a scary thought.
34:23No one really knew that we were here publicly.
34:25So these are the first photographs here of the boys basically announcing their presence.
34:30Pretty flash bikes, gold plated, gold plated Harley.
34:33So it was, you know, quite a statement.
34:35All right, now we're on the bottom floor.
34:38This is my Versace rack here.
34:40Everyone trying to say I'm wearing fake Versace.
34:43The fuck out of here.
34:45They're using social media to market their wealth.
34:49They're not hiding it.
34:51It could be, you know, like a recruitment tool.
34:53Look at me. If you want to have this in life, you can have it too.
34:56A grisly scene awaited emergency services early this morning, triggering an armed lockdown and a full-scale forensic search.
35:03The Comanchero's social media recruitment strategy had devastating consequences in 2018, when new wannabe member, Viliami Tani, carried out a
35:14gangland killing on a man called Epilehame Te Uheawa.
35:17This photo errorly posted online just hours before Epilehame Te Uheawa was shot in the head. A killing with hallmarks
35:25of an execution.
35:27I think Abraham was shot seven times.
35:30Point blank.
35:31Point blank.
35:32His wife was shot in the head twice.
35:35She survived.
35:37And in fact, her evidence was basically crucial to getting the convictions against Tani.
35:42Amazing that she survived.
35:44They were basically lured to a pretty quiet street in South Auckland on the premise that Abraham would buy drugs.
35:52He had $63,000 in the back of his car and that he would be buying methamphetamine from Tani.
36:00He had a distribution network in the South Island.
36:04This was a targeted assassination.
36:07This was taken a few days after the murder and the police were following the suspects.
36:15So, we can see here that basically they're going to be rewarding one of the younger guys involved in the
36:20murder.
36:21Kind of promoting him from being like a hanger-on or an associate of the gang to an actual prospect.
36:27They were a new gang here so they had a reputation for ruthlessness in Australia.
36:33And I think it's sort of seen as them putting a stake in the ground.
36:35This is what we're about.
36:36With connections to Mexican cartels, the police feared the Comancheros could take up a dominant position in New Zealand's meth
36:44market.
36:45The allegation is that the methamphetamine coming from Mexico was being sold a lot cheaper.
36:50So, undercutting, so you get a kilo of meth in Mexico for $1,000, sell it here for $120,000.
36:58That's still a massive, that's still a massive market.
37:04An associate of the Comancheros has already been sentenced to 16 years for importing kilos of meth from Mexico.
37:12We've secured access to film the trial of the leader of the Comancheros, Pasilika Nafahu.
37:17The success of the group brought a lovely house, a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce, ostentatiously designed motorcycles.
37:30Several of Pasilika's gang have already been found guilty of laundering $3.7 million collectively.
37:38Pasilika Nafahu arrived from Australia in early 2016.
37:43And from that point, he commenced a lifestyle to enjoy the benefits that flowed from a whole series of criminal
37:53offences.
37:54And the links that various members of the group had to drug dealing, including drugs in large quantities.
38:05Pasilika is found guilty of money laundering and conspiring to import a precursor of meth from Australia.
38:13The Australian biker gangs, like the Comancheros, are intensifying the gang scene in New Zealand.
38:22Sanifatu claims he's spent years trying to reform the mongrel mob, recently opening his doors to female members.
38:30But after members of his own family joined the Comancheros, he's formed an uneasy alliance with a gang he once
38:38called a foreign invader.
38:41Can you shed light on what your personal connections are to the Comanchero?
38:46Well, my personal connections are my son and my brother being members of the Comanchero.
38:55And I feel that it's a good thing, because I know that they'll do good there.
39:01I know that they'll be able to share with them leadership qualities and prowess.
39:08Gangs are never going to go away. Let's get that right.
39:11You'll always view it the way you've always done it. You'll always see what you've always got.
39:16For you to have something you never had before, try something you've never done before.
39:20Weeks after we finished filming, several of Sunny's gang were arrested for firearm charges and drug offences, including meth importation.
39:31Sunny strongly condemned the actions.
39:40501 Deputy Josh has arrived in Auckland and is already being eyed up as a potential new recruit.
39:49What's kind of like stood out to you over the last couple of days since you've been back?
39:54Well, just speaking to people on the street in Auckland.
39:59Seeing a lot of gangs walking around.
40:02Yeah.
40:03Trying to talk to us. Talk to me and some of the other boys.
40:06Find out who we are.
40:08I think the first question that I get hit with straight away from someone who looks like they're in a
40:11gang or something.
40:12Yeah.
40:12Would be, where are you from?
40:15Yeah.
40:15And we've never seen you around here.
40:18And then they ask if I've got any drugs for sale.
40:22What?
40:23I don't know, a lot of guys that have already come back.
40:27Might be doing, might be involved in some of that stuff.
40:31I'm not sure, to be honest. I don't know.
40:32There's always people trying to suss us out.
40:35Yeah.
40:36Especially the youth.
40:38Josh feels he has to escape Auckland to escape the gangs.
40:42So you're off to Napier today?
40:45Yeah, fly at 4.30. So I'm excited about that.
40:47See my cousin for the first time in a long time.
40:50See her kids. I've never met her kids before.
40:52Oh, wow.
40:52So like, that's pretty good.
40:54Yeah.
40:54Knowing that I've got that support makes me feel more comfortable too, you know?
40:58Yeah.
41:00It's actually been cool meeting up with you in person.
41:03You too.
41:04And I wish you all the best.
41:05Thank you very much.
41:06Thank you very much.
41:09The meth trade in New Zealand and Australia is now worth $11 billion a year.
41:15The Sinaloa Cartel and the Australian biker gangs are not just importing meth,
41:21but shootings, kidnap and assassinations.
41:26Extremes of violence New Zealand has never experienced before.
41:31The traditional gangs are struggling to protect their turf.
41:36I've come back to meet TK White.
41:40Here we go.
41:42We are here now.
41:50To counter the threat of the outlaw Australian biker gangs, after decades of war, Black Power and the mungle mob
41:57have formed an historic alliance.
42:06We have, um, us, our club.
42:09And on the other side is the mungle mob.
42:11There's a term they call it dispute resolution.
42:14This is how we do it.
42:15Utilising our tikanga and our kawa to guide the process.
42:19In terms of resolving disputes or issues between Black Power and mungle mob before, how was it done?
42:26Was it ever done?
42:26Not like that.
42:29When you put the rākau down, is that a symbol of no warfare?
42:34Yeah.
42:35That's what we're pretty much saying.
42:36Without saying it, we're showcasing mungle mob.
42:40Guns down.
42:41Weapons down.
42:42Yeah.
42:42That's a symbol of peace.
42:45It's not going to happen overnight.
42:47We're all individuals.
42:49We're not perfect.
42:50And we understand that our history is quite a dark one.
42:55There are reasons for that.
42:56But that doesn't mean to say that we have to stay there.
43:00It's about helping the brother, the sister, understand that their destiny lay in their own hands.
43:06And at the end of the day, only they will be able to determine what their destiny and their future
43:12looks like.
43:13Black Power movement, as I said, isn't defined by a patch.
43:16It's a way of life.
43:26One device out there.
43:30There's one thing we all know.
43:34That the ourselves have to go.
43:38Māori have faced threats from outsiders before.
43:42Colonialism and decades of racism caused irreparable damage to our way of life.
43:57TK tells us he's offering the younger generation a way out of meth.
44:02He's using his ancestors' land to build a school and community centre.
44:07It was originally gifted to me by one of my beautiful aunties.
44:12This place is going to be utilised to build our dreams and our vision.
44:16So that we're able to learn and teach in our own space and safely.
44:21Using it as the vehicle to pretty much decolonise ourselves.
44:31For me, like, meeting and being with TK and his family
44:36is a really, really humbling reminder of who we are essentially as Māori people.
44:42We live together.
44:44You know, we go through the pain. We journey together.
44:50Methamphetamine, clearly, is pulling people away from one another.
44:54But if you've got family who believe in you, who love you that much,
44:59that they won't turn their backs on you, that's the key.
45:08The New Zealand gangs and Sinaloas, they might get along for a while, you know,
45:14but usually the Sinaloas will want more and more control.
45:18Once a large organised crime group like the Sinaloa sets their eyes on a target,
45:25they can inflict a lot, a lot of pain into a place like New Zealand.
45:38To be continued...
45:53To be continued...
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