Word: mongrelize
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...fearsome tattoos on faces, shoulders and bodies. Sociologist Jarrod Gilbert says the latter practice grew out of a combination of jailhouse tattoos and traditional Maori moko. "They would be the only street gangs in the world to tattoo a patch onto their face," he says. Members tell of one Mongrel Mob initiate whose enthusiasm so exceeded his intelligence that he used a mirror while tattooing the gang's name across his own face-backward...
...gangs hold on to traditions that originated from a desire to shock the society that had shunned them. Mongrel Mobsters bark like dogs to show appreciation or enthusiasm, and use their hands to make the silhouette of a bulldog, the totem in the middle of their patch. Some wear German World War II helmets and use the expression Sieg Heil! as a mark of approval. Black Power members, who claim closer ties to Maori culture, always wear blue, salute each other with a clenched fist and like to cry "Yo, f___in' yo!" Researchers believe the gangs were formed when...
...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...
...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 at the door...
...gangs set a new low in their violent history when tit-for-tat drive-by shootings between the Mongrel Mob and Black Power claimed the life of a toddler in Wanganui, about 330 km south of Auckland. Jhia Te Tua, 2, was asleep on a couch in her Black Power father's home when a bullet was fired into the house, killing her instantly. Police have charged 12 men over her murder and arrested several more in connection with the ongoing violence between the local chapters...