The inner workings of the New Zealand gang world and drug trade have been exposed through encrypted messages between a senior member of the Hells Angels and an undercover drugs agent, according to evidence given in a United States criminal trial.
Murray Michael Matthews, a patched member of the Auckland chapter of the motorcycle gang, and Marc Patrick Johnson, one of the country’s original meth cooks, were arrested in Romania in November 2020.
Marius Lazar, president of the Bucharest chapter of the Hells Angels, was also arrested after a sting operation orchestrated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
All three were to be extradited from Romania to stand trial in Texas, with Matthews and Johnson allegedly involved in a plot to import 400 kilograms of cocaine through the US to New Zealand.
Matthews and Johnson believed they were talking with a large-scale drug trafficker. Instead, they exchanged dozens of encrypted messages with an undercover DEA agent.
The pair are now on the run after absconding from Romania while on bail.
Lazar was eventually extradited to Texas and convicted in November of drug conspiracy, importing cocaine and conspiracy to commit murder.
Evidence given at his trial included the encrypted Wickr messages exchanged between Matthews and the DEA agent.
The price of meth, co-operation (and conflict) between gangs in the drug trade and the potential corruption of police were among the topics discussed, according to the messages obtained by the Weekend Herald.
Several months after they were introduced, the DEA agent sent a photo of meth to Matthews and asked how the drugs compared to what was available in New Zealand.
“Yeah wow, we get similar stuff here. Looks good … there’s a shortage of it [at the moment],” Matthews said.
Did a shortage mean “completely dry or shit product?” the agent asked.
“Completely dry,” Matthews said. “I know the market and no one has anything at the moment.”
If meth was in such short supply, the agent asked how much 1kg would fetch.
Between $120,000 and $140,000, Matthews replied, which was far less than the previous price of $180,000 to $200,000.
He blamed a large-scale overseas importer for driving prices down by selling at between $80,000 and $100,000 a kilogram.
“The last lot came cheap … so it f...ed all the prices up,” Matthews complained.
The agent expressed disbelief that someone could display such poor business acumen by flooding the market with cheap drugs.
“It’s f...ed here, bro,” Matthews said. “We have too many gangs here and heaps of Asian imports that keep sending the shit to these clowns.
“When we get some consistency [of supply] I will have everyone fall under us as long as the price is fair, and the product is good, they won’t need to go elsewhere.”
The DEA agent then asked if rival gangs or police caused the most problems.
“It’s both,” the Hells Angel said, complaining that other gangs had established themselves in New Zealand after being deported from Australia.
“Because of this, the pigs [police] have knuckled down on the gangs. There is a respect thing here where most gangs work together but no one I know out of the lot of us has had a consistent line of work [drugs] ... I have sleepless nights thinking about it.”
Some of the other gangs had “doors” – corrupt insiders who could smuggle drugs through the border – said Matthews, which was a problem because they sold at whatever price suited them.
“But I can get each gang onside [to agree on prices] if it’s all worthwhile ... everyone will comply if we can provide good product at the set [price] so everyone eats, all will be happy.”
The Hells Angels had an “issue” with only one rival gang, he said.
“We have a policy of fight, shoot or stab on sight because they kill our brothers around the world. But they have just set up and the pigs have been hitting them hard.”
Matthews didn’t name the rival gang, but he was almost certainly referring to the Mongols motorcycle gang.
The conversation turned to whether New Zealand police were corrupt.
“They’re pretty firm here,” Matthews said. “I’ve only ever met a handful of crooked pigs that we had on payroll, that’s one thing I’ve always struggled with.”
The whereabouts of Matthews and Johnson are currently unknown.
The DEA has had more success seeking the extradition of Miles John McKelvy, a convicted fraudster and drug importer living in Auckland, for his alleged role in the drug conspiracy.
A High Court judgment that ruled McKelvy should be sent to the US to stand trial contains more details about the extraordinary DEA operation, including how a double killer set the chain of events in motion.
In 2004, Wen Hui Cui was sentenced to serve at least 19 years of a life sentence without parole after stabbing his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends to death.
Using a smartphone smuggled into prison, Cui started communicating in May 2020 with someone he believed to be a large-scale drug trafficker based in the US.
The pair contacted each other through Wickr, an encrypted app favoured by criminals because messages cannot be intercepted.
Again, the purported drug supplier was an undercover DEA agent.
Cui told the agent he was interested in buying a large quantity of cocaine for shipment to New Zealand to supply the Hells Angels.
The double murderer then introduced his business partner, Murray Matthews, and the trio continued to negotiate by Wickr.
As a result, $50,000 was transferred into a US bank account – controlled by the DEA – as a deposit for the purported 400kg of cocaine.
Matthews travelled to Bucharest in July 2020 to meet the DEA agent, where they were joined by Marc Johnson. He was introduced as the financier and plans for the shipment were made.
The cocaine was supposed to be shipped from Peru to Texas, where it would be repackaged, hidden in machinery and sent to Romania, then New Zealand.
Three more payments totalling more than $1 million were deposited into the secret DEA bank account.
Then, on September 16, 2020, Matthews gave the undercover agent the contact details of someone who would allegedly receive the cocaine on behalf of the Hells Angels.
This “broker” was McKelvy, who allegedly communicated with the undercover agent about delivering the cocaine to New Zealand.
As part of the DEA sting, the agent told Cui the funds deposited as payment had been frozen and another meeting in Romania was necessary.
Soon after the meeting, Matthews and Johnson were locked up in Romania in November 2020 and McKelvy, 65, was arrested in Auckland for extradition.
He has been charged in the US with conspiracy to manufacture, import and export cocaine.
In December, the High Court ruled that he should be extradited to stand trial. That does not determine whether he is ultimately found guilty or acquitted.
Cui had not been charged and was found dead in his cell at Wiri prison in 2021. The coroner recently ruled his death was by suicide.
Jared Savage is an award-winning journalist who covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006, and is the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
He was expected in the Waitākere District Court today.