Criminal Planet (2021) s01e06 Episode Script
New Zealand's Gang Explosion
International organized
crime has no natural predator.
Crime syndicates are expanding
and forging alliances
across the globe.
Here comes Santa with the goods!
As law enforcement
struggles to stop them,
up to five percent of the global
economy is now in criminal hands.
I m Paul Radu, and
for the past 20 years,
I have investigated
international organized crime
in the tune of 400 billion.
And this is a very, very small
slice of what s really going on.
I think there are some
people let s go, let s go.
In this series, I m working with a
team of reporters around the world
Are you angry with yourself
for being part of this?
to discover how a generation
of international gangs
are redrawing the criminal map.
[Criminal Planet]
Sinaloa is riddled with labs
all across the mountain range.
We re at what s
called a clandestine lab
under the trees, in
which we work at night,
because there is more
surveillance during the day.
With the brightness of
the boys hazmat suits,
you can quickly attract
attention from up there
and soldiers or the Navy can
quickly raid us and destroy the lab.
Things can explode.
We use liquids and chemicals
that are extremely dangerous.
An explosion can injure
or even kill someone.
It s very toxic. It can poison you
and you have to go to the doctor
and get intravenous therapy.
It can make you faint.
It keeps you out of breath.
It attacks your breathing.
There s still smoke
coming out. Look!
It all needs to cool down.
Now we have made about 25kg
and once we re done with this
process we ll have another 25kg.
The Sinaloa are Mexico s most
ruthless and powerful drug cartel.
They ve been trafficking tonnes
of meth to America for years,
but they are now targeting
a far more lucrative market
on the other side of the world.
Here in Sinaloa, 1 kg of crystal
meth costs about US $1,500.
1 kg in the US is like $4,000.
So it s not worth it for us to
send this product to the US.
In New Zealand we have a
client that pays US $40,000 per kg
and another one that
pays US $45,000 per kg.
That s how much
we re selling it for.
The New Zealand market
is very important to us.
A light stir. Give it a stir
so that it curdles more.
It s straining it pretty
well. It s curdling.
Last year we tried
sending by sea.
It was about a tonne or
1,000 kg of crystal meth.
And it was seized.
They seized it.
So we decided to send less
product but in a safer way.
To outwit and overwhelm
New Zealand Customs,
the Sinaloa now traffic hundreds
of smaller packages of meth
on a regular basis.
It s ready.
It came out pretty and white.
We re going to pack
the finished crystal meth
that will go to New Zealand.
We ll put it in bags and
wrap it in foil and cling film.
Maximizing profits is key to
the Sinaloa s global expansion.
A kilo of meth in New Zealand
wholesales ten times higher
than the American market.
It s so lucrative
the Sinaloa have pioneered
a new global trafficking route,
smuggling their product
7,000 miles across the Pacific
to New Zealand.
The Sinaloa drug cartel, they
re really, really everywhere.
They re one of the most powerful
organized crime gangs on Earth.
They ve murdered so many people.
They ve left so many bodies.
Everybody who does
anything against them
is dead.
A group like the Sinaloa would always
be on the lookout for new markets.
They re bringing meth, sure.
But they re bringing a way of
life that s associated with meth.
So that will be ultimately
really, really bad for the society
in New Zealand.
The Sinaloa is powerful because it
operates across so many frontiers.
It s a virus that, once inside
the country, will just grow
and affect more and more
people in more walks of life,
and more people will suffer.
The influx of meth is wreaking
havoc in my home country.
I want to find out how this drug is
changing the face of New Zealand.
I ve come to meet a street
dealer and some users.
Can I ask you where does
this product come from?
You can ask, but I m
not going to tell you.
Who is using meth?
What type of people?
Everyone here.
Every class.
Every class is on it.
Some people who are poor as,
they ll use everything they ve got.
There s lawyers,
there s doctors.
There s businessmen,
and I m talking hundreds of
millions of dollars businessmen.
There s people that will be in
court defending people today
who they ve had puffs with.
There will be, I know that.
Politicians that I ve been in the
same room with them at the same time.
I can t name you a class of people
or a profession that s immune,
but in Auckland there isn t one.
It s throughout New
Zealand society.
Are gangs pushing
the drug around,
like we ve been seeing or
hearing about in the media?
They claim not to be,
but whatever each individual
gang member does is
what they re going to do.
The gangs are involved
at a wholesale level.
I won t mention names, but you
know who s running the show.
They claim a vicious
turf war is taking place
amongst New Zealand s
gangs to control meth distribution.
Gangs are growing at the
fastest rate since the 1970s.
It s thought the huge profits
being made from methamphetamine
is behind the leap in numbers.
Have you had any
bad experiences?
I ve been stabbed in
the stomach and legs,
arms, neck twice, face.
Everywhere, pretty much.
But it s not going to stop me.
It s no deterrent.
I ll always be a meth head.
You were stabbed?
It involved a knife and yeah.
The Mongrel Mob and Black Power
are New Zealand s largest
and most powerful gangs.
Both have a fearsome
reputation for violence,
and both have
hundreds of foot soldiers.
They ve been fighting
over territory for decades.
But now, the billions to be
made from the meth trade
has ignited a powder keg.
A series of killings
involving the Mongrel Mob
are being described
as gang warfare.
I have family and friends living
in areas affected by the violence.
One of the most notorious
leaders has agreed to meet me.
I m going to meet the leader of
the Waikato Mongrel Mob chapter.
His name is Sonny Fatupaito.
The Mongrel Mob are one of the
original gangs here in New Zealand.
Ever since the start of the
Mongrel Mob and the Black Power
here in New Zealand,
those two gangs
have been rival gangs
and have been involved in some
really gruesome, violent attacks.
Shootings, stabbings, the works.
Sonny himself has served
many years in prison.
He was involved
in torturing a person.
So we re just about
to pull up right now.
I believe it is one
of these buildings.
Sonny set up his own wing
of the Mongrel Mob in 2013.
I m feeling, right now, a
little nervous, if I m honest.
Why the surveillance?
I just have to ask that.
We ve had the experience,
one of our brothers here,
who have had a
shooting at his place.
And it was a nasty shooting.
So we have to protect
the people from in here
to what s going on out there.
We may seem like
we re civilized here,
but we re gangsters
at the end of the day.
We just know how
to control our anger.
Sonny claims the
shooting is not drug-related
but happened during a burglary
of a gang member s home.
He maintains he s totally
opposed to the meth trade.
I don t like it.
I don t do it.
I don t sell it.
The damages.
The family coming in,
Dad s this, Mum s that.
We haven t got food.
We re getting abused.
Whatever.
I don t like it.
And I must say that I
took some hard lines,
you know, where I got myself
involved in the drug world.
In what way?
In those days, it
was just marijuana,
really the drug of choice.
It was never about making money.
Sonny claims he carries out
drug tests on his 600-strong gang
to enforce a zero
tolerance on meth.
How I lead is I tell
people what I m doing.
I just do what I have to do for
the betterment of our people.
What s the beef between the
Black Power and the Mongrel Mob?
Why so much rivalry for so long?
Could you just
hold it for a minute?
I just want to know who
s-- Is that the police?
They might be coming to see
because of the shooting
that happened at his house.
It s a nasty one.
The investigation
is still ongoing.
So they give him an update.
They know who it is.
Wow.
Oh, we live a gangster life.
The Black Power
and the Mongrel Mob,
where does that come from,
the hate towards one another?
Well, it was all about just
protecting your brotherhood,
protecting your circle.
On top of all that was all
the oppression that came on
from society, you
know, from the system.
We had one of our members,
unfortunately, who was killed
in Wanganui.
Who was he killed by?
He was killed by the opposition.
He was killed by the Black Power.
When is it ever going to stop?
Have you ever killed a person?
I haven t killed
anybody with my hands.
You know, I ve given a
few people a few facelifts
just because they
wanted to bring it on.
So I did what I had to do.
This is why I feel now that
I ve got nothing to prove.
I ve got nothing to prove,
you know, in terms
of getting out there,
showing people who I am
in terms of being the badass.
Don t muck me around.
All I want to do now is, I just
want to heal our people now.
Sonny maintains he s turned
his back on violence and drugs,
but other members of the Mongrel
Mob are involved in a power struggle
to control the meth trade.
In March 2020, a young
Mongrel Mob member
fired several rounds at the
police in the town of Kawerau.
In 2017, a fistfight involving the
two gangs turned into a gunfight.
The same year in the
town of Whakatane,
shots were fired
and violence erupted
after a funeral procession
of a Mongrel Mob leader
tried to pass through territory
controlled by the Black Power gang.
I was actually
born in Whakatane.
But shortly after, my grandparents
brought me to Auckland
and raised me in total
immersion Maori education.
So in a sense, I
know I m really lucky
because a lot of my family
members who stayed back home
either ended up in
gangs or affiliated to them.
What s worse is that in 2020,
gang violence, shootings,
and meth use, it s all spiraling out
of control, especially in Whakatane.
I ve come to meet the Black
Power gang in Whakatane.
TK White inherited the leadership
when his father passed away in 2019.
I will say this, I didn t get
along with the man one bit.
Every time.
He s a double murderer.
He s a double murderer?
Went to jail twice for that.
That s the
background of the man.
That s the background
he came from.
Before he was actually on his
way to jail the last time, he said,
I see two pathways
in front of you.
One is good, one is bad.
Both will make you great.
I hope you take the good one.
Today, a new member
is joining Black Power.
This is the first time they
ve allowed TV cameras
to film one of the initiations.
So, we re at Ohinemataroa
River, which is in Whakatane,
and we re about to
undergo a special ceremony,
which is a traditional
karakia or prayer service.
And it s part of a rite
of passage, I think,
for the members of this group.
TK, Tekuru White,
is taking it, so
I ve been roped into it.
I was not expecting
to be a part of it,
but I am going to get
in the river in my shorts.
And it is spring; it is cold.
But it s OK. This is
what we ve got to do.
So here we go! Follow me.
In Maori culture, water is
viewed as the essence of life.
Rivers connect you to your ancestors,
the tribal lands they once owned,
and traditional
values they held.
We re very fortunate today.
Yeah, it s beautiful.
For me, it s a way to
reconnect with my family history
in the area I left as a child.
No, I m not pitched in.
I m not the Black Power,
let s make that very clear.
But I am Maori,
so what just happened there
is not necessarily a gang thing.
It s Maori culture in its
purest and truest form.
And yes, I m wet, but that s OK.
This is our hangi .
This is our traditional
cooking method.
Our ancestors would
sometimes cook the enemies.
It wasn t about cannibalism.
It was about being able
to absorb the energy.
The hole is covered with dirt,
so you ve got an
underground pressure cooker.
If it s not cooked, cover
it up and go to KFC.
Many Maori joined
gangs in the 1970s,
seeking safety in numbers
after suffering years of racial
discrimination and poverty.
Thirty years ago, I
had nowhere to go.
The culture then was hard.
We were gangsters then.
We re gangsters now, but not
as ruthlessly as we were before.
Did you get into fights?
Heaps.
That s more fights
than I want, you know.
Actually made me stronger.
These guys here, they
taught me how to survive.
It wasn t all about just gang
warfare, drugs in those days.
Did you sell drugs?
Yep.
Marijuana.
All we had then was marijuana.
Not the s t they ve got now.
Not all drug dealers
are gang members,
and not all gang
members are drug dealers.
I mean, I ve been
there, done that.
It s water under the
bridge now, you know.
So I ve gone on
the other side there,
and I m the one who s going to
pull you away from the harms of meth.
How do you both feel
about methamphetamine?
It s destroying our families.
Destroying our community.
Our community.
A lot of our generation are
all dying as a result of meth.
And since 2014, we ve
lost something like ten, 12
Ten, 12, yeah.
to meth.
But it s how horrific
the violence is.
There have been
quite horrific stories
come out of not just Whakatane
but across the Bay of Plenty
in terms of methamphetamine
and how it s affecting.
Everything that s happened
in, say, the last month,
it will be meth-related.
What s been happening here?
Well, there s been a shoot-out.
There was a shooting last week.
People just looking for a fight.
Gang wars are no
longer about local rivalry
but a vast, interconnected
web of criminal activity
that spans the globe.
What the Sinaloa does very
well is always team up with
the local criminal gangs.
In New Zealand, you have
these competing gangs,
and suddenly you have someone
bigger coming into the market
and picking allies, right?
When you look at the connections,
it s not just one type of connection.
It s multiple roles
at the same time,
and it s very,
very fluid as well.
And this is where feuds start
and fights between
organized crime groups.
And everybody wants a bit more,
then that ignites
these violent clashes.
So this is not a world of peace.
It s a world of conflict.
New Zealand s 1,200 customs
officers have been overwhelmed
by the influx of meth from
Mexico in the last two years.
Try not to get run over.
I ve been doing
this job for 37 years,
and I never thought I would
see quantities of drugs like this.
It s mind-blowing.
The Mexican drug cartels see
New Zealand as the golden nugget.
They re the most
lucrative market,
and they re wanting
to own that market.
In the 1990s, one kilo of
drugs was a really big seizure.
Last year, we seized over a
tonne of methamphetamine.
They are really sophisticated.
If you can think about
it, they ve done it.
We ve seen methamphetamine
mixed within concrete.
We ve seen
methamphetamine in liquid form,
impregnation in clothing,
chemically altered so that
it s not methamphetamine,
but you add another chemical
to it that changes it back to drugs.
So these guys are really clever.
We ve just got to get smarter.
What did that come in?
This methamphetamine was
concealed inside electric generators
that weighed in excess
of 250 kilos each.
Once you knew how to get
into them, it was quite easy.
But getting them there was
really difficult, figuring it out.
Yeah.
That there is quite dense.
That leads me to believe there may
be a drug concealment inside there.
What is that?
This is blocks of compressed
methamphetamine.
They came inside
plastic stacking pallets.
Each pallet had 80 of these
concealments built into the pallet.
What?
They don t come with an instruction
manual that says, Here s the drugs.
The Sinaloa cartel are not the
only new international players
in New Zealand s
multimillion-dollar meth market.
The traditional New
Zealand adult gangs,
which were Black
Power, Mongrel Mob,
they re being challenged
with an influx of new gangs.
So you ve got
Australian deportees.
They are bringing the level
of sophistication and tradecraft
and connections that they
ve built up over many years.
They re coming into
New Zealand, setting up,
and that s causing tension
within the gang environment.
Business model, as I understand
it, is to undercut other gangs,
use extreme violence.
Australia s tough new laws mean that
hundreds of Kiwis are being deported.
All non-citizens who fail a
character test are sent home.
There was an altercation
in the compounds.
People were stabbed and it was
between Islanders and Iranians.
And I think there was seven people
stabbed in the neck and in the back.
S t s kicking off
here, people on edge.
A detainee called Josh
has emailed me a video from inside
an Australian deportation center.
People on edge, and they re
starting to turn into race wars.
I mean, this is way
worse than prison.
Like, s t, I don t think I ve ever
seen seven people get stabbed.
It s a powder keg,
and it s about to erupt.
These videos haven
t seen the light of day.
And I'm a journalist
in New Zealand.
This is gold.
It s very rare to get evidence
from inside a deportation center.
I m interested to learn more
about what just went down there.
Twenty-nine-year-old Josh left
New Zealand for Australia aged two,
and hasn t been back since.
He served eight years in prison
for assaulting a drug dealer.
He claims he
wants to go straight
but is now surrounded by biker
gangs in an immigration center
as he waits to be
deported to New Zealand.
Police! Search
warrant! Open the door!
Open the door now!
Get on the ground!
Get on the ground!
The Australian police has been
cracking down on these biker gangs,
who have well-established global
connections in the meth trade.
Since 2015, Section
501 of the Migration Act
means any non-citizens accused
of engaging in criminal activity
can be deported.
Thousands of 501s have
been sent back to New Zealand.
In the case of Australia,
they are dumping their crime
problem to New Zealand.
And it s a short-term solution
that s going to bring
a longer-term problem.
Organized crime
is, unfortunately,
very often the first
to offer a way out.
By deporting people who ve committed
crimes, you re just exporting crime.
You re creating a bigger problem
because now these people
know how to set up a network,
they will keep on
growing their networks,
and they will
enlist new soldiers.
So you don t dismantle
a network in that way.
You actually create
a network in that way.
Some of the most
successful criminals
are criminals who get
deported from place to place.
You re creating a bigger
problem for New Zealand.
Twenty-four hours later, I
ve managed to reach Josh
inside the deportation center
in Perth, Western Australia.
Here we go.
Kia ora.
How are you?
I ve been in segregation for
the last 16 weeks now, I think.
Have you got caught up in
any sort of scuffles or violence?
Have people attacked you
while you ve been in there?
People that have
attacked me in here
are the people that are supposed
to look after us, which is the officers.
I ve been subject to
brutality, excessive force.
As I headed into the mess,
they blocked off the exit gate,
and I was kind of like,
What s going on here?
And the officers approaching
me said, You got to come with us.
So I m like, Hang
on, hang on a minute.
Tell me what I ve done wrong.
And then before I knew it,
riot officers with
shields and riot gear on,
padded armor and
stuff, are rushing into me.
Detained me, dragged
me out the side gate,
dropped me on my
face, on the ground.
I remember hearing one of
them say, Oh, he s got a knife.
And I had no knife.
So then I was accompanied
down to the segregation,
where you go for
24-hour lockdown.
And then they dived on
me, kneed me in the back,
elbows in the back of my head.
They almost broke
my back, pretty much.
Did anyone get
reprimanded for that?
I tried to put in my complaint.
You just can t win
against these guys.
Because I ve lashed out
a few times towards staff,
and because of the
severity of the crimes
why I went to prison
in the first place,
they deem me a high risk.
Can we talk about who you are leaving
behind there in Western Australia?
I m leaving behind my father,
my mother,
both my grandparents
on both sides.
And the most
important one, my wife.
But I m more scared
about joining a gang,
and then me having nothing
but friends I ve met in detention.
That is my main concern.
It s a high-risk situation.
The Australian Border Force
cannot comment on Josh s case,
but say they have stringent
reporting requirements and oversight
to ensure force is not
used arbitrarily or illegally.
They are committed
to ensuring good order
and that detention
centers are safe.
Josh wants to avoid gang life,
but an estimated 40 percent of
501s sent back to New Zealand
end up committing crimes.
Members of the outlaw biker
gangs deported from Australia
are setting up shop
in New Zealand
and growing in power as they
recruit more and more 501s.
According to the
FBI, the Bandidos,
one of the top four
biker gangs in the world,
is involved in drug
and firearms trafficking.
They established a wing
in New Zealand in 2016.
So I ve managed to track down
the former president of the notorious
Bandidos gang, Hamish Hiroki.
He's one of the very few senior
members to have left the gang world.
Hamish was deported from Australia
for gun charges several years ago,
but claims the new
arrivals are far more violent.
We never had this much of a problem
until the 501s started coming back.
Yeah, we still had gangs, but
the scale of things now is huge.
There s more drugs
in New Zealand.
There s a huge meth problem.
A huge meth problem.
Since the 501s
have been sent home,
things have really escalated because
they ve been sent back from Australia
and they re bringing all
their connections here.
It s all one big
dick-measuring comp.
Who has the most cars?
Who has the most gold?
Who has the most drugs?
What do we have now,
in terms of the scale?
A massive problem.
Massive problem
here in New Zealand.
The 501s are signing on with gangs
because they have nothing else,
so you can t blame them.
With the clubs and the gangs,
when you do sign on, they
will look after you at the start.
You are sold a dream just
to get guys purely to sign on.
You know, girls, cars,
gold, bikes, you know?
As a lure.
Dangling a carrot to
less fortunate guys.
Leaving the notorious Bandidos
and breaking the
gang s code of silence
means Hamish is
now a marked man.
Us standing here, are
we at risk right now?
Potentially, yeah.
It s quite serious.
What could happen?
Could quite possibly get shot.
Could get jumped, you know.
There s a number of
things that could happen.
I have a lot of
enemies around, yeah.
Somebody drove past
and put three shotgun shells
through the front window.
It was just to say, We
re a pain in the arse.
We pretty much
shut the shop down.
Shootings all the
time, you know.
There s a fella who
got shot in the head
not so long ago.
You haven t heard
nothing about that?
Stuff happens all the time.
-Every day.
-Yeah.
Some of these guys are ruthless,
looking to earn their colors.
Yeah, they ll smash
down the door.
They don t care f
ing who s inside it.
Eighty police simultaneously
raided ten properties across Auckland
linked to the fledgling gang.
Police came away with
guns, cars, and cash
and made a host of arrests.
It s the arrival of a new 501
gang called the Comancheros
that has recently led
to a brutal turf war.
With connections
to Mexican cartels,
the police fear they could flood
New Zealand with cheaper meth.
They ve already enforced a
very Mexican style of justice,
assassinating a rival.
I ve come to meet Jared Savage,
a crime reporter for The
New Zealand Herald .
He s been investigating
gangs for decades.
The introduction of new
players like the Comancheros
has definitely disrupted things.
They ve been quite
bold and brash.
There s been an increase in violence,
and particularly firearms violence.
And I think that s something
that we ll see a lot more of
in the future as well.
That s actually
quite a scary thought.
No one really knew that
they were here publicly,
so these are the
first photographs here
of the boys basically
announcing their presence.
Pretty flash bikes, gold-plated.
Gold-plated Harleys.
It was quite a statement.
Alright, now we re
on the bottom floor.
There s my Versace rack here.
Everyone trying to say I
m wearing fake Versace,
get the f k out of here.
They re using social
media to market their wealth.
They re not hiding it.
It could be a recruitment tool.
Look at me.
If you want to have this
in life, you can have it too.
A grisly scene awaited emergency
services early this morning,
triggering an armed lockdown
and a full-scale forensic search.
The Comancheros social
media recruitment strategy
had devastating consequences in 2018
when new wannabe member Viliami Taani
carried out a gangland killing on a
man called Epalahame Tu uheava.
This photo eerily posted online just
hours before Epalahame Tu uheava
was shot in the head.
A killing with hallmarks
of an execution.
I think Abraham
was shot seven times.
-His wife--
-Point blank.
Point blank.
His wife was shot
in the head twice.
She survived.
And in fact, her evidence
was basically crucial
to getting the
convictions against Taani.
Amazing that she survived.
They were basically lured to a
pretty quiet street in South Auckland
on the premise that
Abraham would buy drugs
he had $63,000 in
the back of his car
and that he would be buying
methamphetamine from Taani.
He had a distribution
network in the South Island.
This was a targeted
assassination.
This was taken a few
days after the murder,
and the police were
following the suspects.
So we can see here that
basically they re going to be
rewarding one of the younger
guys involved in the murder.
Kind of promoting him
from being like a hanger-on
or an associate of the
gang to an actual prospect.
They were a new gang here.
They had a reputation for
ruthlessness in Australia,
and I think it s sort of seen as
them putting a stake in the ground,
This is what we re about.
With connections to Mexican cartels,
the police feared the Comancheros
could take up a dominant position
in New Zealand s meth market.
The allegation is that the
methamphetamine coming from Mexico
was being sold a lot
cheaper, so undercutting.
So you get a kilo of
meth in Mexico for $1,000,
sell it here for $120,000.
That s still a massive
that s still a massive markup.
An associate of the Comancheros
has already been sentenced to 16 years
for importing kilos
of meth from Mexico.
We ve secured
access to film the trial of
the leader of the
Comancheros, Pasilika Naufahu.
The success of the group
bought them a lovely house,
a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce,
ostentatiously
designed motorcycles.
Several of Pasilika s gang
have already been found guilty of
laundering $3.7
million collectively.
Pasilika Naufahu arrived
from Australia in early 2016.
And from that point, he commenced
a lifestyle to enjoy the benefits
that flowed from a whole
series of criminal offenses
and the links that various members
of the group had to drug dealing,
including drugs
in large quantities.
Pasilika is found guilty
of money laundering
and conspiring to import a
precursor of meth from Australia.
The Australian biker
gangs like the Comancheros
are intensifying the gang
scene in New Zealand.
Sonny Fatu claims he s spent years
trying to reform the Mongrel Mob,
recently opening his
doors to female members.
But after members of his own
family joined the Comancheros,
he s formed an uneasy alliance
with a gang he once
called a foreign invader.
Can you shed light
on what your personal connections
are to the Comancheros?
Well, my personal connections
are my son and my brother
being members of
the Commancheros.
And I feel that
it s a good thing
because I know that
they ll do good there.
I know that they ll be able to
share with them leadership
qualities and prowess.
Gangs are never
going to go away.
Let s get that right.
You ll always view it the
way you ve always done it.
You ll always see
what you ve always got.
For you to have something
you never had before,
try something you
ve never done before.
Weeks after we finished filming,
several of Sonny s gang were
arrested for firearm charges
and drug offenses,
including meth importation.
Sonny strongly
condemned the actions.
501 deportee Josh
has arrived in Auckland
and is already being eyed
up as a potential new recruit.
What s stood out to you
over the last couple of days
since you ve been back?
Just speaking to people
on the street in Auckland.
Seeing a lot of gangs walking
around, trying to talk to us,
talk to me and some
of the other boys,
find out who we are.
I think the first question that
you get hit with straightaway
from someone who looks like
they re in a gang or something
will be, Where are you from?
and, We ve never
seen you around here.
Then they asked if I ve
got any drugs for sale.
What?!
I know a lot of guys that have
already come back might be doing
might be involved
in some of that stuff.
I m not sure, to be
honest. I don t know.
There s always people
trying to suss us out.
Yeah.
Yeah. Especially the youth.
Josh feels he has to escape
Auckland to escape the gangs.
So you re off to Napier today?
Yeah, flight at 4:30, so
I m excited about that.
See my cousin for the
first time in a long time.
See her kids. I ve never
met her kids before.
-Oh, wow.
-So, like that s pretty good.
Knowing that I ve got that support
makes me feel more comfortable, too.
Yeah.
It s actually been cool
meeting up with you in person.
And you too.
And I wish you all the best.
Thank you very much.
The meth trade in New
Zealand and Australia
is now worth $11 billion a year.
The Sinaloa cartel and
the Australian biker gangs
are not just importing meth
but shootings, kidnap,
and assassinations.
Extremes of violence New Zealand
has never experienced before.
The traditional gangs are
struggling to protect their turf.
I ve come back to meet TK White.
Here we go.
We are here now.
To counter the threat of the
outlaw Australian biker gangs,
after decades of war,
Black Power and the Mongrel
Mob have formed an historic alliance.
Here you have us, Black Power,
and on the other side
is the Mongrel Mob.
There s a term, they call it dispute
resolution, this is how we do it.
Utilizing tikanga kawa [traditional
customs] to guide the process.
In terms of resolving disputes
or issues between Black Power
and Mongrel Mob
before, how was it done?
-Was it ever done?
-Not like that.
When you put the rakau [weapon]
down, is that a symbol of no warfare?
That s what we are pretty
much saying without saying it.
We re showcasing peacemaking.
-Guns down.
-Guns down.
-Weapons down.
-Yeah.
That s a symbol of peace.
It's not going to
happen overnight.
We are all individuals.
We're not perfect.
And we understand that
our history is quite a dark one.
There are reasons for that.
But that doesn t mean to
say that we have to stay there.
It s about helping
the brother, the sister,
understand that their destiny
lays in their own hands.
And at the end of the day, only
they will be able to determine
what their destiny and
their future looks like.
Black Power movement, as I
said, isn t defined by a patch.
It s a way of life.
Maori have faced threats
from outsiders before.
Colonialism and
decades of racism
caused irreparable
damage to our way of life.
TK tells us he s offering the
younger generation a way out of meth.
He s using his ancestors land to
build a school and community center.
It was originally gifted to me
by one of my beautiful aunties.
This place is going to be used
to build our dreams and our vision
so that we re able to learn
and teach in our own space
and safely.
Using it as the vehicle to pretty
much decolonize ourselves.
For me, meeting and
being with TK and his family
is a really, really humbling
reminder of who we are essentially
as Maori people.
We live together.
You know, we go
through the pain.
We journey together.
Methamphetamine clearly is
pulling people away from one another.
But if you ve got family
who believe in you,
who love you that much that
they won t turn their backs on you,
that s the key.
The New Zealand
gangs and the Sinaloas,
they might get
along for a while,
but usually the Sinaloas will
want more and more control.
Once a large organized
crime group like the Sinaloa
sets their eyes on a target,
they can inflict a lot of pain
into a place like New Zealand.
crime has no natural predator.
Crime syndicates are expanding
and forging alliances
across the globe.
Here comes Santa with the goods!
As law enforcement
struggles to stop them,
up to five percent of the global
economy is now in criminal hands.
I m Paul Radu, and
for the past 20 years,
I have investigated
international organized crime
in the tune of 400 billion.
And this is a very, very small
slice of what s really going on.
I think there are some
people let s go, let s go.
In this series, I m working with a
team of reporters around the world
Are you angry with yourself
for being part of this?
to discover how a generation
of international gangs
are redrawing the criminal map.
[Criminal Planet]
Sinaloa is riddled with labs
all across the mountain range.
We re at what s
called a clandestine lab
under the trees, in
which we work at night,
because there is more
surveillance during the day.
With the brightness of
the boys hazmat suits,
you can quickly attract
attention from up there
and soldiers or the Navy can
quickly raid us and destroy the lab.
Things can explode.
We use liquids and chemicals
that are extremely dangerous.
An explosion can injure
or even kill someone.
It s very toxic. It can poison you
and you have to go to the doctor
and get intravenous therapy.
It can make you faint.
It keeps you out of breath.
It attacks your breathing.
There s still smoke
coming out. Look!
It all needs to cool down.
Now we have made about 25kg
and once we re done with this
process we ll have another 25kg.
The Sinaloa are Mexico s most
ruthless and powerful drug cartel.
They ve been trafficking tonnes
of meth to America for years,
but they are now targeting
a far more lucrative market
on the other side of the world.
Here in Sinaloa, 1 kg of crystal
meth costs about US $1,500.
1 kg in the US is like $4,000.
So it s not worth it for us to
send this product to the US.
In New Zealand we have a
client that pays US $40,000 per kg
and another one that
pays US $45,000 per kg.
That s how much
we re selling it for.
The New Zealand market
is very important to us.
A light stir. Give it a stir
so that it curdles more.
It s straining it pretty
well. It s curdling.
Last year we tried
sending by sea.
It was about a tonne or
1,000 kg of crystal meth.
And it was seized.
They seized it.
So we decided to send less
product but in a safer way.
To outwit and overwhelm
New Zealand Customs,
the Sinaloa now traffic hundreds
of smaller packages of meth
on a regular basis.
It s ready.
It came out pretty and white.
We re going to pack
the finished crystal meth
that will go to New Zealand.
We ll put it in bags and
wrap it in foil and cling film.
Maximizing profits is key to
the Sinaloa s global expansion.
A kilo of meth in New Zealand
wholesales ten times higher
than the American market.
It s so lucrative
the Sinaloa have pioneered
a new global trafficking route,
smuggling their product
7,000 miles across the Pacific
to New Zealand.
The Sinaloa drug cartel, they
re really, really everywhere.
They re one of the most powerful
organized crime gangs on Earth.
They ve murdered so many people.
They ve left so many bodies.
Everybody who does
anything against them
is dead.
A group like the Sinaloa would always
be on the lookout for new markets.
They re bringing meth, sure.
But they re bringing a way of
life that s associated with meth.
So that will be ultimately
really, really bad for the society
in New Zealand.
The Sinaloa is powerful because it
operates across so many frontiers.
It s a virus that, once inside
the country, will just grow
and affect more and more
people in more walks of life,
and more people will suffer.
The influx of meth is wreaking
havoc in my home country.
I want to find out how this drug is
changing the face of New Zealand.
I ve come to meet a street
dealer and some users.
Can I ask you where does
this product come from?
You can ask, but I m
not going to tell you.
Who is using meth?
What type of people?
Everyone here.
Every class.
Every class is on it.
Some people who are poor as,
they ll use everything they ve got.
There s lawyers,
there s doctors.
There s businessmen,
and I m talking hundreds of
millions of dollars businessmen.
There s people that will be in
court defending people today
who they ve had puffs with.
There will be, I know that.
Politicians that I ve been in the
same room with them at the same time.
I can t name you a class of people
or a profession that s immune,
but in Auckland there isn t one.
It s throughout New
Zealand society.
Are gangs pushing
the drug around,
like we ve been seeing or
hearing about in the media?
They claim not to be,
but whatever each individual
gang member does is
what they re going to do.
The gangs are involved
at a wholesale level.
I won t mention names, but you
know who s running the show.
They claim a vicious
turf war is taking place
amongst New Zealand s
gangs to control meth distribution.
Gangs are growing at the
fastest rate since the 1970s.
It s thought the huge profits
being made from methamphetamine
is behind the leap in numbers.
Have you had any
bad experiences?
I ve been stabbed in
the stomach and legs,
arms, neck twice, face.
Everywhere, pretty much.
But it s not going to stop me.
It s no deterrent.
I ll always be a meth head.
You were stabbed?
It involved a knife and yeah.
The Mongrel Mob and Black Power
are New Zealand s largest
and most powerful gangs.
Both have a fearsome
reputation for violence,
and both have
hundreds of foot soldiers.
They ve been fighting
over territory for decades.
But now, the billions to be
made from the meth trade
has ignited a powder keg.
A series of killings
involving the Mongrel Mob
are being described
as gang warfare.
I have family and friends living
in areas affected by the violence.
One of the most notorious
leaders has agreed to meet me.
I m going to meet the leader of
the Waikato Mongrel Mob chapter.
His name is Sonny Fatupaito.
The Mongrel Mob are one of the
original gangs here in New Zealand.
Ever since the start of the
Mongrel Mob and the Black Power
here in New Zealand,
those two gangs
have been rival gangs
and have been involved in some
really gruesome, violent attacks.
Shootings, stabbings, the works.
Sonny himself has served
many years in prison.
He was involved
in torturing a person.
So we re just about
to pull up right now.
I believe it is one
of these buildings.
Sonny set up his own wing
of the Mongrel Mob in 2013.
I m feeling, right now, a
little nervous, if I m honest.
Why the surveillance?
I just have to ask that.
We ve had the experience,
one of our brothers here,
who have had a
shooting at his place.
And it was a nasty shooting.
So we have to protect
the people from in here
to what s going on out there.
We may seem like
we re civilized here,
but we re gangsters
at the end of the day.
We just know how
to control our anger.
Sonny claims the
shooting is not drug-related
but happened during a burglary
of a gang member s home.
He maintains he s totally
opposed to the meth trade.
I don t like it.
I don t do it.
I don t sell it.
The damages.
The family coming in,
Dad s this, Mum s that.
We haven t got food.
We re getting abused.
Whatever.
I don t like it.
And I must say that I
took some hard lines,
you know, where I got myself
involved in the drug world.
In what way?
In those days, it
was just marijuana,
really the drug of choice.
It was never about making money.
Sonny claims he carries out
drug tests on his 600-strong gang
to enforce a zero
tolerance on meth.
How I lead is I tell
people what I m doing.
I just do what I have to do for
the betterment of our people.
What s the beef between the
Black Power and the Mongrel Mob?
Why so much rivalry for so long?
Could you just
hold it for a minute?
I just want to know who
s-- Is that the police?
They might be coming to see
because of the shooting
that happened at his house.
It s a nasty one.
The investigation
is still ongoing.
So they give him an update.
They know who it is.
Wow.
Oh, we live a gangster life.
The Black Power
and the Mongrel Mob,
where does that come from,
the hate towards one another?
Well, it was all about just
protecting your brotherhood,
protecting your circle.
On top of all that was all
the oppression that came on
from society, you
know, from the system.
We had one of our members,
unfortunately, who was killed
in Wanganui.
Who was he killed by?
He was killed by the opposition.
He was killed by the Black Power.
When is it ever going to stop?
Have you ever killed a person?
I haven t killed
anybody with my hands.
You know, I ve given a
few people a few facelifts
just because they
wanted to bring it on.
So I did what I had to do.
This is why I feel now that
I ve got nothing to prove.
I ve got nothing to prove,
you know, in terms
of getting out there,
showing people who I am
in terms of being the badass.
Don t muck me around.
All I want to do now is, I just
want to heal our people now.
Sonny maintains he s turned
his back on violence and drugs,
but other members of the Mongrel
Mob are involved in a power struggle
to control the meth trade.
In March 2020, a young
Mongrel Mob member
fired several rounds at the
police in the town of Kawerau.
In 2017, a fistfight involving the
two gangs turned into a gunfight.
The same year in the
town of Whakatane,
shots were fired
and violence erupted
after a funeral procession
of a Mongrel Mob leader
tried to pass through territory
controlled by the Black Power gang.
I was actually
born in Whakatane.
But shortly after, my grandparents
brought me to Auckland
and raised me in total
immersion Maori education.
So in a sense, I
know I m really lucky
because a lot of my family
members who stayed back home
either ended up in
gangs or affiliated to them.
What s worse is that in 2020,
gang violence, shootings,
and meth use, it s all spiraling out
of control, especially in Whakatane.
I ve come to meet the Black
Power gang in Whakatane.
TK White inherited the leadership
when his father passed away in 2019.
I will say this, I didn t get
along with the man one bit.
Every time.
He s a double murderer.
He s a double murderer?
Went to jail twice for that.
That s the
background of the man.
That s the background
he came from.
Before he was actually on his
way to jail the last time, he said,
I see two pathways
in front of you.
One is good, one is bad.
Both will make you great.
I hope you take the good one.
Today, a new member
is joining Black Power.
This is the first time they
ve allowed TV cameras
to film one of the initiations.
So, we re at Ohinemataroa
River, which is in Whakatane,
and we re about to
undergo a special ceremony,
which is a traditional
karakia or prayer service.
And it s part of a rite
of passage, I think,
for the members of this group.
TK, Tekuru White,
is taking it, so
I ve been roped into it.
I was not expecting
to be a part of it,
but I am going to get
in the river in my shorts.
And it is spring; it is cold.
But it s OK. This is
what we ve got to do.
So here we go! Follow me.
In Maori culture, water is
viewed as the essence of life.
Rivers connect you to your ancestors,
the tribal lands they once owned,
and traditional
values they held.
We re very fortunate today.
Yeah, it s beautiful.
For me, it s a way to
reconnect with my family history
in the area I left as a child.
No, I m not pitched in.
I m not the Black Power,
let s make that very clear.
But I am Maori,
so what just happened there
is not necessarily a gang thing.
It s Maori culture in its
purest and truest form.
And yes, I m wet, but that s OK.
This is our hangi .
This is our traditional
cooking method.
Our ancestors would
sometimes cook the enemies.
It wasn t about cannibalism.
It was about being able
to absorb the energy.
The hole is covered with dirt,
so you ve got an
underground pressure cooker.
If it s not cooked, cover
it up and go to KFC.
Many Maori joined
gangs in the 1970s,
seeking safety in numbers
after suffering years of racial
discrimination and poverty.
Thirty years ago, I
had nowhere to go.
The culture then was hard.
We were gangsters then.
We re gangsters now, but not
as ruthlessly as we were before.
Did you get into fights?
Heaps.
That s more fights
than I want, you know.
Actually made me stronger.
These guys here, they
taught me how to survive.
It wasn t all about just gang
warfare, drugs in those days.
Did you sell drugs?
Yep.
Marijuana.
All we had then was marijuana.
Not the s t they ve got now.
Not all drug dealers
are gang members,
and not all gang
members are drug dealers.
I mean, I ve been
there, done that.
It s water under the
bridge now, you know.
So I ve gone on
the other side there,
and I m the one who s going to
pull you away from the harms of meth.
How do you both feel
about methamphetamine?
It s destroying our families.
Destroying our community.
Our community.
A lot of our generation are
all dying as a result of meth.
And since 2014, we ve
lost something like ten, 12
Ten, 12, yeah.
to meth.
But it s how horrific
the violence is.
There have been
quite horrific stories
come out of not just Whakatane
but across the Bay of Plenty
in terms of methamphetamine
and how it s affecting.
Everything that s happened
in, say, the last month,
it will be meth-related.
What s been happening here?
Well, there s been a shoot-out.
There was a shooting last week.
People just looking for a fight.
Gang wars are no
longer about local rivalry
but a vast, interconnected
web of criminal activity
that spans the globe.
What the Sinaloa does very
well is always team up with
the local criminal gangs.
In New Zealand, you have
these competing gangs,
and suddenly you have someone
bigger coming into the market
and picking allies, right?
When you look at the connections,
it s not just one type of connection.
It s multiple roles
at the same time,
and it s very,
very fluid as well.
And this is where feuds start
and fights between
organized crime groups.
And everybody wants a bit more,
then that ignites
these violent clashes.
So this is not a world of peace.
It s a world of conflict.
New Zealand s 1,200 customs
officers have been overwhelmed
by the influx of meth from
Mexico in the last two years.
Try not to get run over.
I ve been doing
this job for 37 years,
and I never thought I would
see quantities of drugs like this.
It s mind-blowing.
The Mexican drug cartels see
New Zealand as the golden nugget.
They re the most
lucrative market,
and they re wanting
to own that market.
In the 1990s, one kilo of
drugs was a really big seizure.
Last year, we seized over a
tonne of methamphetamine.
They are really sophisticated.
If you can think about
it, they ve done it.
We ve seen methamphetamine
mixed within concrete.
We ve seen
methamphetamine in liquid form,
impregnation in clothing,
chemically altered so that
it s not methamphetamine,
but you add another chemical
to it that changes it back to drugs.
So these guys are really clever.
We ve just got to get smarter.
What did that come in?
This methamphetamine was
concealed inside electric generators
that weighed in excess
of 250 kilos each.
Once you knew how to get
into them, it was quite easy.
But getting them there was
really difficult, figuring it out.
Yeah.
That there is quite dense.
That leads me to believe there may
be a drug concealment inside there.
What is that?
This is blocks of compressed
methamphetamine.
They came inside
plastic stacking pallets.
Each pallet had 80 of these
concealments built into the pallet.
What?
They don t come with an instruction
manual that says, Here s the drugs.
The Sinaloa cartel are not the
only new international players
in New Zealand s
multimillion-dollar meth market.
The traditional New
Zealand adult gangs,
which were Black
Power, Mongrel Mob,
they re being challenged
with an influx of new gangs.
So you ve got
Australian deportees.
They are bringing the level
of sophistication and tradecraft
and connections that they
ve built up over many years.
They re coming into
New Zealand, setting up,
and that s causing tension
within the gang environment.
Business model, as I understand
it, is to undercut other gangs,
use extreme violence.
Australia s tough new laws mean that
hundreds of Kiwis are being deported.
All non-citizens who fail a
character test are sent home.
There was an altercation
in the compounds.
People were stabbed and it was
between Islanders and Iranians.
And I think there was seven people
stabbed in the neck and in the back.
S t s kicking off
here, people on edge.
A detainee called Josh
has emailed me a video from inside
an Australian deportation center.
People on edge, and they re
starting to turn into race wars.
I mean, this is way
worse than prison.
Like, s t, I don t think I ve ever
seen seven people get stabbed.
It s a powder keg,
and it s about to erupt.
These videos haven
t seen the light of day.
And I'm a journalist
in New Zealand.
This is gold.
It s very rare to get evidence
from inside a deportation center.
I m interested to learn more
about what just went down there.
Twenty-nine-year-old Josh left
New Zealand for Australia aged two,
and hasn t been back since.
He served eight years in prison
for assaulting a drug dealer.
He claims he
wants to go straight
but is now surrounded by biker
gangs in an immigration center
as he waits to be
deported to New Zealand.
Police! Search
warrant! Open the door!
Open the door now!
Get on the ground!
Get on the ground!
The Australian police has been
cracking down on these biker gangs,
who have well-established global
connections in the meth trade.
Since 2015, Section
501 of the Migration Act
means any non-citizens accused
of engaging in criminal activity
can be deported.
Thousands of 501s have
been sent back to New Zealand.
In the case of Australia,
they are dumping their crime
problem to New Zealand.
And it s a short-term solution
that s going to bring
a longer-term problem.
Organized crime
is, unfortunately,
very often the first
to offer a way out.
By deporting people who ve committed
crimes, you re just exporting crime.
You re creating a bigger problem
because now these people
know how to set up a network,
they will keep on
growing their networks,
and they will
enlist new soldiers.
So you don t dismantle
a network in that way.
You actually create
a network in that way.
Some of the most
successful criminals
are criminals who get
deported from place to place.
You re creating a bigger
problem for New Zealand.
Twenty-four hours later, I
ve managed to reach Josh
inside the deportation center
in Perth, Western Australia.
Here we go.
Kia ora.
How are you?
I ve been in segregation for
the last 16 weeks now, I think.
Have you got caught up in
any sort of scuffles or violence?
Have people attacked you
while you ve been in there?
People that have
attacked me in here
are the people that are supposed
to look after us, which is the officers.
I ve been subject to
brutality, excessive force.
As I headed into the mess,
they blocked off the exit gate,
and I was kind of like,
What s going on here?
And the officers approaching
me said, You got to come with us.
So I m like, Hang
on, hang on a minute.
Tell me what I ve done wrong.
And then before I knew it,
riot officers with
shields and riot gear on,
padded armor and
stuff, are rushing into me.
Detained me, dragged
me out the side gate,
dropped me on my
face, on the ground.
I remember hearing one of
them say, Oh, he s got a knife.
And I had no knife.
So then I was accompanied
down to the segregation,
where you go for
24-hour lockdown.
And then they dived on
me, kneed me in the back,
elbows in the back of my head.
They almost broke
my back, pretty much.
Did anyone get
reprimanded for that?
I tried to put in my complaint.
You just can t win
against these guys.
Because I ve lashed out
a few times towards staff,
and because of the
severity of the crimes
why I went to prison
in the first place,
they deem me a high risk.
Can we talk about who you are leaving
behind there in Western Australia?
I m leaving behind my father,
my mother,
both my grandparents
on both sides.
And the most
important one, my wife.
But I m more scared
about joining a gang,
and then me having nothing
but friends I ve met in detention.
That is my main concern.
It s a high-risk situation.
The Australian Border Force
cannot comment on Josh s case,
but say they have stringent
reporting requirements and oversight
to ensure force is not
used arbitrarily or illegally.
They are committed
to ensuring good order
and that detention
centers are safe.
Josh wants to avoid gang life,
but an estimated 40 percent of
501s sent back to New Zealand
end up committing crimes.
Members of the outlaw biker
gangs deported from Australia
are setting up shop
in New Zealand
and growing in power as they
recruit more and more 501s.
According to the
FBI, the Bandidos,
one of the top four
biker gangs in the world,
is involved in drug
and firearms trafficking.
They established a wing
in New Zealand in 2016.
So I ve managed to track down
the former president of the notorious
Bandidos gang, Hamish Hiroki.
He's one of the very few senior
members to have left the gang world.
Hamish was deported from Australia
for gun charges several years ago,
but claims the new
arrivals are far more violent.
We never had this much of a problem
until the 501s started coming back.
Yeah, we still had gangs, but
the scale of things now is huge.
There s more drugs
in New Zealand.
There s a huge meth problem.
A huge meth problem.
Since the 501s
have been sent home,
things have really escalated because
they ve been sent back from Australia
and they re bringing all
their connections here.
It s all one big
dick-measuring comp.
Who has the most cars?
Who has the most gold?
Who has the most drugs?
What do we have now,
in terms of the scale?
A massive problem.
Massive problem
here in New Zealand.
The 501s are signing on with gangs
because they have nothing else,
so you can t blame them.
With the clubs and the gangs,
when you do sign on, they
will look after you at the start.
You are sold a dream just
to get guys purely to sign on.
You know, girls, cars,
gold, bikes, you know?
As a lure.
Dangling a carrot to
less fortunate guys.
Leaving the notorious Bandidos
and breaking the
gang s code of silence
means Hamish is
now a marked man.
Us standing here, are
we at risk right now?
Potentially, yeah.
It s quite serious.
What could happen?
Could quite possibly get shot.
Could get jumped, you know.
There s a number of
things that could happen.
I have a lot of
enemies around, yeah.
Somebody drove past
and put three shotgun shells
through the front window.
It was just to say, We
re a pain in the arse.
We pretty much
shut the shop down.
Shootings all the
time, you know.
There s a fella who
got shot in the head
not so long ago.
You haven t heard
nothing about that?
Stuff happens all the time.
-Every day.
-Yeah.
Some of these guys are ruthless,
looking to earn their colors.
Yeah, they ll smash
down the door.
They don t care f
ing who s inside it.
Eighty police simultaneously
raided ten properties across Auckland
linked to the fledgling gang.
Police came away with
guns, cars, and cash
and made a host of arrests.
It s the arrival of a new 501
gang called the Comancheros
that has recently led
to a brutal turf war.
With connections
to Mexican cartels,
the police fear they could flood
New Zealand with cheaper meth.
They ve already enforced a
very Mexican style of justice,
assassinating a rival.
I ve come to meet Jared Savage,
a crime reporter for The
New Zealand Herald .
He s been investigating
gangs for decades.
The introduction of new
players like the Comancheros
has definitely disrupted things.
They ve been quite
bold and brash.
There s been an increase in violence,
and particularly firearms violence.
And I think that s something
that we ll see a lot more of
in the future as well.
That s actually
quite a scary thought.
No one really knew that
they were here publicly,
so these are the
first photographs here
of the boys basically
announcing their presence.
Pretty flash bikes, gold-plated.
Gold-plated Harleys.
It was quite a statement.
Alright, now we re
on the bottom floor.
There s my Versace rack here.
Everyone trying to say I
m wearing fake Versace,
get the f k out of here.
They re using social
media to market their wealth.
They re not hiding it.
It could be a recruitment tool.
Look at me.
If you want to have this
in life, you can have it too.
A grisly scene awaited emergency
services early this morning,
triggering an armed lockdown
and a full-scale forensic search.
The Comancheros social
media recruitment strategy
had devastating consequences in 2018
when new wannabe member Viliami Taani
carried out a gangland killing on a
man called Epalahame Tu uheava.
This photo eerily posted online just
hours before Epalahame Tu uheava
was shot in the head.
A killing with hallmarks
of an execution.
I think Abraham
was shot seven times.
-His wife--
-Point blank.
Point blank.
His wife was shot
in the head twice.
She survived.
And in fact, her evidence
was basically crucial
to getting the
convictions against Taani.
Amazing that she survived.
They were basically lured to a
pretty quiet street in South Auckland
on the premise that
Abraham would buy drugs
he had $63,000 in
the back of his car
and that he would be buying
methamphetamine from Taani.
He had a distribution
network in the South Island.
This was a targeted
assassination.
This was taken a few
days after the murder,
and the police were
following the suspects.
So we can see here that
basically they re going to be
rewarding one of the younger
guys involved in the murder.
Kind of promoting him
from being like a hanger-on
or an associate of the
gang to an actual prospect.
They were a new gang here.
They had a reputation for
ruthlessness in Australia,
and I think it s sort of seen as
them putting a stake in the ground,
This is what we re about.
With connections to Mexican cartels,
the police feared the Comancheros
could take up a dominant position
in New Zealand s meth market.
The allegation is that the
methamphetamine coming from Mexico
was being sold a lot
cheaper, so undercutting.
So you get a kilo of
meth in Mexico for $1,000,
sell it here for $120,000.
That s still a massive
that s still a massive markup.
An associate of the Comancheros
has already been sentenced to 16 years
for importing kilos
of meth from Mexico.
We ve secured
access to film the trial of
the leader of the
Comancheros, Pasilika Naufahu.
The success of the group
bought them a lovely house,
a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce,
ostentatiously
designed motorcycles.
Several of Pasilika s gang
have already been found guilty of
laundering $3.7
million collectively.
Pasilika Naufahu arrived
from Australia in early 2016.
And from that point, he commenced
a lifestyle to enjoy the benefits
that flowed from a whole
series of criminal offenses
and the links that various members
of the group had to drug dealing,
including drugs
in large quantities.
Pasilika is found guilty
of money laundering
and conspiring to import a
precursor of meth from Australia.
The Australian biker
gangs like the Comancheros
are intensifying the gang
scene in New Zealand.
Sonny Fatu claims he s spent years
trying to reform the Mongrel Mob,
recently opening his
doors to female members.
But after members of his own
family joined the Comancheros,
he s formed an uneasy alliance
with a gang he once
called a foreign invader.
Can you shed light
on what your personal connections
are to the Comancheros?
Well, my personal connections
are my son and my brother
being members of
the Commancheros.
And I feel that
it s a good thing
because I know that
they ll do good there.
I know that they ll be able to
share with them leadership
qualities and prowess.
Gangs are never
going to go away.
Let s get that right.
You ll always view it the
way you ve always done it.
You ll always see
what you ve always got.
For you to have something
you never had before,
try something you
ve never done before.
Weeks after we finished filming,
several of Sonny s gang were
arrested for firearm charges
and drug offenses,
including meth importation.
Sonny strongly
condemned the actions.
501 deportee Josh
has arrived in Auckland
and is already being eyed
up as a potential new recruit.
What s stood out to you
over the last couple of days
since you ve been back?
Just speaking to people
on the street in Auckland.
Seeing a lot of gangs walking
around, trying to talk to us,
talk to me and some
of the other boys,
find out who we are.
I think the first question that
you get hit with straightaway
from someone who looks like
they re in a gang or something
will be, Where are you from?
and, We ve never
seen you around here.
Then they asked if I ve
got any drugs for sale.
What?!
I know a lot of guys that have
already come back might be doing
might be involved
in some of that stuff.
I m not sure, to be
honest. I don t know.
There s always people
trying to suss us out.
Yeah.
Yeah. Especially the youth.
Josh feels he has to escape
Auckland to escape the gangs.
So you re off to Napier today?
Yeah, flight at 4:30, so
I m excited about that.
See my cousin for the
first time in a long time.
See her kids. I ve never
met her kids before.
-Oh, wow.
-So, like that s pretty good.
Knowing that I ve got that support
makes me feel more comfortable, too.
Yeah.
It s actually been cool
meeting up with you in person.
And you too.
And I wish you all the best.
Thank you very much.
The meth trade in New
Zealand and Australia
is now worth $11 billion a year.
The Sinaloa cartel and
the Australian biker gangs
are not just importing meth
but shootings, kidnap,
and assassinations.
Extremes of violence New Zealand
has never experienced before.
The traditional gangs are
struggling to protect their turf.
I ve come back to meet TK White.
Here we go.
We are here now.
To counter the threat of the
outlaw Australian biker gangs,
after decades of war,
Black Power and the Mongrel
Mob have formed an historic alliance.
Here you have us, Black Power,
and on the other side
is the Mongrel Mob.
There s a term, they call it dispute
resolution, this is how we do it.
Utilizing tikanga kawa [traditional
customs] to guide the process.
In terms of resolving disputes
or issues between Black Power
and Mongrel Mob
before, how was it done?
-Was it ever done?
-Not like that.
When you put the rakau [weapon]
down, is that a symbol of no warfare?
That s what we are pretty
much saying without saying it.
We re showcasing peacemaking.
-Guns down.
-Guns down.
-Weapons down.
-Yeah.
That s a symbol of peace.
It's not going to
happen overnight.
We are all individuals.
We're not perfect.
And we understand that
our history is quite a dark one.
There are reasons for that.
But that doesn t mean to
say that we have to stay there.
It s about helping
the brother, the sister,
understand that their destiny
lays in their own hands.
And at the end of the day, only
they will be able to determine
what their destiny and
their future looks like.
Black Power movement, as I
said, isn t defined by a patch.
It s a way of life.
Maori have faced threats
from outsiders before.
Colonialism and
decades of racism
caused irreparable
damage to our way of life.
TK tells us he s offering the
younger generation a way out of meth.
He s using his ancestors land to
build a school and community center.
It was originally gifted to me
by one of my beautiful aunties.
This place is going to be used
to build our dreams and our vision
so that we re able to learn
and teach in our own space
and safely.
Using it as the vehicle to pretty
much decolonize ourselves.
For me, meeting and
being with TK and his family
is a really, really humbling
reminder of who we are essentially
as Maori people.
We live together.
You know, we go
through the pain.
We journey together.
Methamphetamine clearly is
pulling people away from one another.
But if you ve got family
who believe in you,
who love you that much that
they won t turn their backs on you,
that s the key.
The New Zealand
gangs and the Sinaloas,
they might get
along for a while,
but usually the Sinaloas will
want more and more control.
Once a large organized
crime group like the Sinaloa
sets their eyes on a target,
they can inflict a lot of pain
into a place like New Zealand.