Bad Boys want to be understood

By PATRICK GOWER

Feared by boy-racers and hounded by police, the Bad Boy Killers say they just like cars.

"Nobody in our group has robbed a house or stabbed someone," says BBK member Alastair Benson.

The group of boy racers last night invited the Herald to a meeting to "clear their name" after the police alleged they had been involved in an incident that led to a shooting early on Sunday.

A 25-year-old man was shot in the stomach when a gunman opened fire at a group of at least 100 boy racers around a service station forecourt on Te Irirangi Drive in East Tamaki.

He is in a stable condition in hospital and arrests have been made.

The BBK said the wounded man had not been a member for more than 10 months. Allegations they were the target of the shooting after an earlier incident when a car windscreen was smashed were "complete lies".

Mr Benson was one of about five BBK members who was talking to the victim when he was shot.

"If the guy was aiming like the police said he was, then why didn't he hit a BBK member?" he said. "He fired 10 shots and only got someone else and a car.

"It wasn't us he was after."

The group was founded by Willie Tofa in 1995 and has since grown to 80 members, both male and female.

The youngest member is 16, the oldest in his 40s. They are mainly Polynesian with a core membership in Otara, but they have members of all nationalities spread across Auckland and as far as Kaitaia and Tauranga.

The group's symbol is a masked Pacific Island warrior with a sword standing beside a V12 Dodge Viper - the car that remains an elusive dream of all their members. It is pinned to the wall of their clubrooms alongside photographs of all their cars.

Boy racers who want to join must be vouched for by a member to get the prized sticker on their boot.

If they behave badly the sticker is ripped off their car.

BBK member Mac Larry said the shooting victim was one who had "played up" and was told to leave. "We have our own way of dealing with that sort of thing."

Mr Larry said the club was like a family to many of its members, united by friendship and a love of cars. The allegations by the police and others had been hurtful.

Club members used their cars mainly for trips away or cruising together, and even loaned them out for wedding parties.

"We're no angels," said Mr Benson. "But we are not what people say we are."

He conceded there was a criminal element among the boy-racer community, but said the BBK was not involved. He refused to name the "less than reputable" groups.

"I'll be honest, the boy-racer scene is not clean, and the dodgy guys are doing much, much worse than driving up and down Te Irirangi Drive," he said.

The BBK members said they were picked on unfairly by police. The sticker on the back of their cars was "like a magnet" for being pulled over.

They say police often wrongly search their vehicles for stolen parts.

Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Gary Lendrum yesterday stood by his claims of BBK involvement in the tensions leading up to the shooting and said officers were still looking for up to seven people they believed were involved in the earlier incident.

There was "no doubt" some members of the boy-racer community were involved in serious crime, including car theft and parts rackets in Auckland.

At the same time, many boy racers were often "full of their own self-importance".

"They are full of bravado. They are often not as tough as they would like us to believe."

BBK members say they want "recognition not condemnation" for their hobby, and an improved relationship with police, fellow boy racers and the community.

Mr Tofa spent most of last night's meeting in the background.

He stepped forward only when discussion turned to who had the fastest car.

"There is no fastest car," he said. "Everyone is the fastest."

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