Black Power and the Mongrel Mob are two of New Zealand’s largest and most notorious biker gangs. Once fierce rivals, they recently joined forces to wage war on the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, moving in from Australia
Last week, members of the notorious Black Power biker gang were seen performing an intimidating haka as one of their leaders was laid to rest.
The spine-tingling ritual took place as McKinnon’s casket, which was covered in flax weavings, was carried off.
Elsewhere in the footage from Whenu ‘Sarge’ McKinnon’s funeral, bikers line the streets, doing burnouts before McKinnon is taken by a truck to his final resting place.
Others honour their fallen head honcho with traditional single fist salutes, a symbol depicted in the Black Power logo.
National Black Power president McKinnon died in early October.
The footage from his funeral offered a rare glimpse into New Zealand’s criminal underbelly, where the gang operate in a lawless and hyper-violent world.
Members of the Mongrel Mob were also seen in attendance.
It represents a change in gang life, after years of bloody street wars between the two groups, and hints at a form of uneasy alliance between the two warring groups.
Mongrel Mob president Sonny Fatu and a range of Black Power senior members including McKinnon began crisis talks in 2018 to unite against the emergence of a new Australian motorcycle gang, the Comancheros.
In 2018, McKinnon said a new, joint outlook was necessary to ensure survival – not just of the clubs, but of themselves too.
“I no longer see the Mongrel Mob as my enemy. I see you fellas as my brothers,” he said.
It’s not always been that way.
The gangs had previously been at war as they vied for gangland supremacy.
Their violent turf wars and heinous crimes often made even the most controversial scenes from hit FX TV show Sons of Anarchy look tame.
Black Power began its reign of terror as the Black Bulls in 1970, changing their name in 1971 when a Black Power chapter was established in Auckland.
During the 1970s the gangs turned further towards organised crime and now they have stringent codes against outsiders.
Some members have been linked to drug running and other organised crime in the past.
The gang’s colours are blue and black and members can often be identified by their full face tattoos.
The patched vests, in the same way as outlaw biker gangs in the US, signal the members’ status.
In order to earn them they must endure a gruelling initiation period that can span an entire year and involve carrying out serious crimes before they are officially welcomed in.
The notorious mob is made up of mainly Maori and Polynesian members
Members salute each other with a clenched fist and their main expression is “Yo! Yo!” or “Yo f**k yo!”
The Mongrel Mob, New Zealand’s other most notorious violent gang, has a vast network of more than thirty chapters throughout the country.
The notorious mob is made up of mainly Maori and Polynesian members
Members salute each other with a clenched fist and their main expression is “Yo! Yo!” or “Yo f**k yo!”
The Mongrel Mob, New Zealand’s other most notorious violent gang, has a vast network of more than thirty chapters throughout the country.
The mob is one of the largest gangs in New Zealand and was established in 1962.
Legend within the gang holds that the name originated from the comments of a judge in the Hastings District Court, who referred to a group of men before him as “mongrels”.
Their gang symbol is a bulldog and their colours are predominately red and black.
The gang has more than 1,000 members and is known for organised crime including drug and weapon trafficking, assault, murder and robbery.
Their first notably public clash came in 1981 when Black Power and the Mongrel Mob members brawled at a family day in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, which was attended by 1,000 people.
In 1987 teenager Colleen Burrows was murdered after refusing to have sex with Mongrel Mob members. In 1996 police witness Christopher Crean was murdered at home to prevent him from testifying against Black Power members over their part in a violent brawl.
In 2007, Whanganui two-year-old Jhia Te Tua was killed in a Mongrel Mob drive-by shooting at a Black Power member’s house.
At the start of 2020 multiple shots were fired during a brawl involving around 40 members from Black Power and the Mongrel Mob in Taradale, Napier.
Following that incident, police and politicians held a public meeting to address locals about the ongoing violence.
But it now appears that the rivalry is being put to one side as the gangs battle against a common enemy.
In 2018, Australia’s most dangerous gang, the Comancheros, opened up a New Zealand chapter as it spread its territory overseas.
A group of 14 members made a bold statement as they landed on foreign soil, saying the gang would “grow stronger and stronger” in New Zealand.
Police called the establishment of a New Zealand chapter of motorcycle gang, considered the most dangerous in Australia, “concerning” and said the move would almost certainly cause friction with other gangs as they try to muscle in on the country’s drug trade.
In October 2020, Pasilika Naufahu, president of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, was found guilty of money laundering and conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine, a precursor to methamphetamine.
Intercepted communications from September 20, 2018, from an audio device fitted in a vehicle were played to the jury during the trial in which an alleged member says the Comancheros are “the biggest gang in New Zealand, if they put word on the street about you, no-one comes near you”.
