Gang numbers are surging and a new landscape of patches, outlaws and rivalries are emerging across New Zealand.
Turf wars have erupted into terrifying violence in Auckland and the same could be seen in the South Island in the near future.
Experts and police insiders hope the southern gang chapters will continue keeping the relative peace but as the landscape becomes more crowded and patches are handed out seemingly freely, it's likely only a matter of time before tensions start to flare.
The year seemed to start with a bang - literally - for the Canterbury gang scene.
As numbers on the National Gang List surpassed 8000, patch-related action appeared to be ramping up in January with a prominent Mongrel Mob member shot during an incident in Kaiapoi and a man allegedly murdered at a gang pad near Burnham.
Raids, rides and patches more visible around the place - outlaws taking to social media to share their escapades.
Reports of tattoo shop arsons, a ram-raid at a barber shop, drive-by shootings, huge hauls of methamphetamine, other drugs, illegal firearms, cash being seized by police.
Officers across the district were given general arming orders several times as they investigated gang-related stoushes and the community became nervous at times that there was more to come, that they may be caught in the crossfire and retribution.
It's been an age since there was any real gang warfare in the South - nothing substantial since the 1970s and 1980s during the heyday of the Epitaph Riders, Devil's Henchmen, and before gang pads hidden behind obnoxious-yet-foreboding-looking perimeter fencing on Lincoln Rd.
And while some of the gangs at the centre of those flare ups have long vanished, others have moved in - and are growing in numbers.
Gang expert, crime and justice academic and Herald columnist Jarrod Gilbert said the earliest gangs in the South Island were born in central Christchurch and were driven by youth fashion.
But the bodgies, widgies and Milk Bar Cowboys - more cliques than anything else - soon gave way to the more modern gangs, and with them, the patches, the elements of violence, drugs and organised crime.
While there's certainly gang presence in smaller towns, and numbers are said to be "rapidly" increasing on the West Coast and the top of the island, the main chapters settled and stayed in the wider Christchurch area.
In the 60s it was Epitaph Riders, two chapters of the Devil's Henchmen, Black Power, Mongrel Mob.
"They dominated our gang scene for a really long time," said Gilbert.
"The Highway 61s were prominent in the 90s with three chapters and then there were the Templars, Road Knights - Christchurch was a real bellwether city of gangs.
"But from then to now, it's unrecognisable, the transformation from the first wave or first era has now transformed into a second era."
Gilbert said whole gangs that were "permanent fixtures" on the scene two or three decades ago had "disappeared" entirely.
Think - Harris Gang, Ruthless Boot Boys and a scattering of skinhead formations.
Other outlaw groups had replaced them, and more were coming.
In an internationally unprecedented move, half of the "Quake City" chapter of the Hells Angels patched over to their "mortal enemies" - the Mongols, to establish the first local chapter.
"The 61s have all gone, they didn't have a huge presence here and they were overtaken by groups that came from up North," he said.
"Head Hunters, Tribesmen, King Cobras - groups that are usually Auckland based ... and then everything began to change again in 2012 when the Rebels came."
The Rebels are one of Australia's largest gangs, with a growing presence across New Zealand.
"They set up here using New Zealanders ... a large number of people defected from the Tribesmen," said Gilbert.
There are still Tribesmen in the 03 in numbers, just last year they made their presence known during a public fight with Mongrel Mob members outside the Christchurch District Court.
There's also smattering of Bandidos - another gang that originated across the ditch - in the area.
Further south, the gangs that used to be present had "declined" and the main pockets of patches were now firmly in the Canterbury region.
"Christchurch tends to be the main focal point," Gilbert explained. "When the older clubs fall over, others fill the void."
Those others were currently the Rebels and Mongols.
For a long time young people hadn't been joining - unless they fell into the patch through generational connection - but the Rebels made gang life "cool" again.
"Basically as gangs got older there wasn't any attraction ... people wanted to join but not the existing gangs," Gilbert said.
"When they Rebels came, they started to attract new members - they acted differently, they revitalised the gang scene.
"The establishment of the Mongols, that's the significant new development ... they were involved in some serious issues when they established but that seems to have calmed."
Gilbert predicted gang warfare coming in the future and warned it could be "dramatic".
"It's probably a bit early but the conditions are ripe - when you've got new groups in new territory the prospect for violence is real," he said. "Particularly when there is growth within the scene ... when a room is crowded someone will eventually get elbowed."
He expected numbers to continue rising - but didn't think many new groups would crawl onto the scene.
"There's been a real acceleration in the last half-dozen years - and it's a dangerous game to predict, but the suggestion is that crime groups won't fade away and will solidify ... there may be fewer groups with more members," he said.
"With the sudden rise of new gangs, I think what we will see is jostling and battles between groups to decide which ones stay and which ones go."
"It's really remarkable too, a lot of groups are giving out patches extremely easily - without a prospecting period, just patching people up.
"They've got incredible numbers in a short time and when bullets start flying some will exit as quickly as they entered ... Some groups will disappear and others will get stronger."
While the Southland's gang resurgence is ramping up, in Auckland it's reaching fever pitch, with four shootings - including a drive-by at a house and an attempted arson on a nightclub in the last 10 days.
The string of attacks which follow months of tit-for-tat retaliation between rival gangs the King Cobras and Rebels in which cars, homes and businesses have been firebombed and riddled with semi-automatic gunfire.
And last month, escalating tensions between the Mongols and Head Hunters gangs led to police arresting 19 people in relation to a spate of serious arsons and drive-by shootings including the gunfire at an Auckland inner-city hotel.
Sources told the Herald the situation in Auckland was dire and it was only a matter of time until the violence became deadly.
"Someone's going to die soon," said one police insider.
The Herald revealed this morning that police in Auckland were urging gang leaders to hold peace talks and end the friction before a "tragedy" occurs.
In Canterbury, police were less worried - for now.
While their fingers are on the pulse of gangs and the organised crime that swirls constantly around them, they say group activity is less of an issue than people.
"There's definitely a resurgence in numbers, it's become attractive again for people to be part of a group - I guess they see the 'wealth' they can generate and that can be really attractive to young people or those who don't have a lot," said one veteran cop.
"Traditionally it was the Mongrel Mob, Black Power and a few local motorcycle clubs - but now we're seeing the Rebels, Comancheros and Bandidos, though they keep a lower profile.
"But if you look at it from a crime perspective, it's not just one gang offending - there are certain people from within different gangs causing the issues ... you can't really say it's one particular group that's causing the most harm."
Gangs have been linked to most of Christchurch's high-profile crimes this year, including the alleged murder of Kane Wayman at the Mongols' gang pad on the outskirts of the city in January.
Days later police across Canterbury were armed following the shooting of a high-profile Mongrel Mob member.
On January 4, Fairmont Wiringi was shot and seriously injured during a clash in Kaiapoi, north of Christchurch.
He is the son of senior Mongrel Mob member Joseph Wiringi. His brother Fairlane is also a patched member of the notorious gang.
And earlier this month, details emerged in court about a brutal killing at a Christchurch community housing unit where a man was attacked with a hammer and repeatedly stabbed before his carotid artery was cut.
The cousin of a senior Mongrel Mob gang member and a young man living at the patched member's home are allegedly behind the violent crime.
The gang connections to the offending cannot be disputed - but police say the groups themselves were not factors in the incidents.
"The (Wayman) death happened at a gang pad but it was not gang-related at all," the source said.
"The shooting wasn't gang-related - even though it involved members of multiple gangs - it was drug related.
"Just because it involves gang members, it doesn't mean it's gang vs gang ... individuals will do their own crimes, and what you'll see from time to time is people from different gangs working together. The bottom line for us is we look at who is causing harm in the community and we'll target them and deal with them."
He said the biggest gangs were still Mongrel Mob and Black Power but the Mongols were growing fast.
But he didn't expect to see a level of activity like that in Auckland.
Gangs here simply didn't have the same issues around territory, currently.
"You can never say never, but I certainly hope that's not the case that it becomes like Auckland," he said.
"Their issues are not so relevant in Christchurch."
There were not "hot spot" suburbs or areas around the city - unlike previous years where the Mongrel Mob stronghold was in Shirley and Black Power in Woolston and Timaru was almost overrun with Road Knights and Devils Henchmen who were often warring.
"We're pretty lucky here, we're not seeing gang turf wars," said the source.
But, he acknowledged that with an increase in numbers the public would, naturally, be nervous about the state of play.
"I appreciate there's been an increase in people wearing patches, in motorbikes - and it's at a level the Canterbury public hasn't seen for a few years," he said.
"The Mongols came to town recently and came straight out with a show of force with a ride around ... that kind of thing probably has the biggest impact on public perception."
He assured anyone offending - gang members, associates, individuals or groups - would be dealt with swiftly.
"It doesn't matter whether they're in a gang or not, we will look a who is committing the offences," said the source.
