Word: gangly
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...While ordinary folk rarely encounter gang members or fall victim to gang violence, the gangs' reputation for brutality is well deserved. Many New Zealanders remember dreadful crimes that prompted tougher laws. In 1988, a 19-year-old woman was kidnapped and taken to a Mongrel Mob convention in Auckland, where she was raped by at least 15 men, beaten, urinated on, covered in petrol and photographed over a nine-hour period before she escaped. In 1996, police witness Christopher Crean, who had testified against Black Power members who'd taken part in a violent brawl, was murdered in front...
...Today the gangs are involved in the production and sale of methamphetamine, and deal in marijuana through outlets known as tinny houses, named for the tinfoil tubes the drug is sold in. Regular police busts give a clue to the scale of gang involvement in the drugs trade. In 2005, Operation Soprano resulted in the conviction of the head of the Auckland-based Black Power Sindi chapter, Abraham Wharewaka, whose marijuana dealing operation netted $NZ35,000 a week. A rival Mongrel Mob chapter in the South Island became so bold as to sell cannabis from their clubhouse, posting a sign...
...Jhia's killing has reignited debate in New Zealand about whether enough has been done to deal with gangs. The government announced a review of existing laws, while justice officials have been put to work on an organized anti-gang strategy. The New Zealand Police Union has called for a Royal Commission to inquire into the gangs, and recommended a national, rather than divisional, strategy to control them. Police Minister Annette King, however, believes the incident was an anomaly-a death at a time when gangs are becoming less violent. "The killing of innocent people by gangs is very rare...
...Sociologist Gilbert, who has spent many hours with gang members and inside clubhouses for his research, is another who thinks gang violence is overstated. "An objective observer would see that the pattern of gang violence was at its peak in the '70s, '80s and '90s and is on the decline now," he says...
...mayor of Wanganui sees it very differently. "That's bullshit," says Michael Laws, who wants gangs banned from public areas. "You might have the older ones doing less crime, but they are still recruiting. And you get the younger ones who need to do crime to become patched. We've got all the police statistics for our area. The number of gang-on-gang incidents tripled in 2006, and would be even worse...