Gang violence absent from summit

Fears of violence between rival gang members meeting with the Sensible Sentencing Trust in Hastings at the weekend dissolved as gang leaders sat peacefully side by side to listen to the positive messages that were delivered at the summit.

The most testing moment came on Friday night, when numerous patched Mongrel Mob members arrived at what was an already tense get-to-know-you session with rival Black Power members.

The summit was to look at issues relating to law and order, drugs, gangs and community leadership.

Lead tutor, New York based corporate psychologist John Wareham, veteran of many crises in the tough Rikers Island prison colony, conceded that he didn't know which way it was going to go.

"We could have lost it all, right at the moment," he said.

But a Black Power leader later said that he was confident that everyone had come to the summit with the same will to resolve issues, although no side knew what the other had in mind.

Mr Wareham, accompanied by leading protege and Rikers Island felon-turned-counsellor Joseph Roberts, acted decisively in the charged moment, having the new arrivals introduce themselves -- setting the peaceful tone for what some would later call a miracle.

By the end of the weekend gang members, on both sides, pledged to take messages back to create better family situations, and to regather at some stage to keep the process alive.

Veteran mob member John Nepe-Apatu, who sat throughout side-by-side with a Black Power leader from Wellington, talked of the seed which had been put in the ground, and what the leaders had to do "to make it grow".

A Black Power leader said there was much to do to address years of issues.

"We are under no illusions that we are going to walk out of here as one, but we are going to walk out of here with one thought."

The Sensible Sentencing Trust's high-profile spokesman, Garth McVicar, spoke with confidence of what he had heard, as did the organisation's patron, Sir Russell Pettigrew.

Both men said they had learned much, and could take messages back to others in places to help guide change in the ultimate goals of a society where family prosperity and community safety prevailed.

Mr Wareham credited Black Power life member and Napier-based gang behaviour consultant Denis O'Reilly with co-ordinating the successful gathering.

Mr O'Reilly emphasised it was not about getting the gangs together, but teaching leaders their role in their own destinies, and the destinies of those who relied on them.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY