Veteran organised crime detectives have given a rare insight into the workings of the Head Hunters and the man alleged to be its chief. George Block reports.
How did Wayne Doyle amass his wealth?
The Police Commissioner says it was largely because of his role as president of the Head Hunters, one of New Zealand’s oldest, largest and most sophisticated organised crime groups.
But Doyle has not been charged with or convicted of any offence since he was last released from prison in 2001.
The first week of his Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act trial concluded on Friday, with more evidence from detectives who had gained knowledge of the outlaw motorcycle gang over the years.
The judge-alone civil trial before Justice Peter Andrew is set down for four weeks and will hear from an array of witnesses.
Doyle’s lawyer Ron Mansfield KC is not disputing the assertion his client is a senior, long-standing patched member of the Head Hunters who holds considerable mana within the motorcycle club.
Nor is he disputing that some Head Hunters commit crimes.
But he will challenge the allegations Doyle is at the head of the organisation and that he receives any ill-gotten gains.
“He’s not the boss, he’s not the president, he’s not in charge of crime committed by others,” Mansfield said.
Instead, as his defence gradually takes shape via cross-examination, Mansfield is referencing other income he says Doyle has received over the years beyond Ministry of Social Development (MSD) benefits, including ticket sales from Head Hunters fight nights, merchandise sales, loans and board payments.
Police are seeking profit forfeiture orders totalling more than $15 million against Doyle and are targeting five properties, including the base of the Head Hunters East chapter at 232 Marua Rd, Ellerslie.
It was raided in September 2017 as part of the proceeds investigation, and police found $275,000 in cash. Since then, the case has been subject to lengthy delays and took six years to wind its way to trial.
Prosecutor Conrad Purdon, acting for the Police Commissioner, said Doyle’s personal wealth has grown considerably over the past 20 years despite his only real source of declared legitimate income being benefits.
The Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act was designed to supplant earlier legislation that was unable to deal with people involved in crime who had succeeded in distancing themselves from offending, he said.
“This is a man at the head of a large organised criminal group who has amassed property well beyond what can be considered reasonable or possible from a person who has never declared almost anything other than MSD benefits,” Purdon said.
Over the past week, the trial has heard from a series of detectives who had dealt with or investigated the Head Hunters.
Detective Inspector Kevin McNaughton had two stints in the Motorcycle Gang Unit since 2004, holding the dedicated Head Hunters portfolio before later serving as the officer in charge.
McNaughton dealt with almost every member of the Head Hunters who was not in jail, including Wayne Doyle.
“He is the Head Hunters,” McNaughton said.
“I’ve never heard anyone say that he is not in charge.
“He’s the chief. The boss. WD.”
Under cross-examination by Mansfield, McNaughton said the gang’s East chapter, established when Doyle left prison and based out of Marua Rd, does not have the same formalised rank structure of other gangs.
Unlike with the Hells Angels, you would never see Wayne Doyle with “president” on the side of his vest, and the East chapter did not use the term president or use an overly formal rank structure, he said.
Mansfield asked if he was aware Doyle had the nickname “chief”. McNaughton replied “the chief”, saying the article “the” in front of the nickname changed the meaning slightly.
McNaughton said the East chapter holds meetings dubbed “church” every six or so weeks, one of several activities required of patched members.
Like all outlaw motorcycle clubs, members are sometimes required to undertake security or guard duties to ensure the pad is always manned.
Detective Jonathan Mitchell was a later member of the Motorcycle Gang Unit, from 2020 until this year, who also held the Head Hunters portfolio.
Mitchell said Doyle was always at the centre of Head Hunters events, like the club’s deadlifting competitions or rugby league games, and would be the point of contact for motorcycle runs.
Members would refer to him as the boss, he said.
In his cross-examination of Mitchell, Mansfield repeatedly raised the idea the East chapter was run by a committee, not by Doyle as the president in all but name.
Mitchell repeatedly pushed back.
The detective said in his experience, no one from any gang that was in conflict with the Head Hunters would say they needed to speak to the East chapter committee.
They would always say they needed to speak to Doyle, he said.
Likewise, any estranged member who wanted to hand back their patch would hand it back to Doyle, Mitchell said.
“The effective reality of it is that he is making the decisions. The people in the Head Hunters are answerable to Wayne Doyle, not the committee.”
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Raymond Sunkel, who since 2016 has worked exclusively in the area of outlaw motorcycle clubs, said Head Hunters are required to pay 20 per cent of their earnings to the organisation.
Sunkel said part of those earnings come from the underworld practice of “taxing”, a term largely unique to New Zealand, where gang members extort cash, drugs or valuables from criminals through violence or intimidation.
Victims of taxing are usually committing crimes of their own so are unlikely to go to the police, he said. He rejected Mansfield’s suggestion taxing did not necessarily involve the commission of an offence.
“I think the very nature of taxing is an offence,” he said.
“The only reason to give up a $16,000 motorcycle is through [the] threat of violence. You don’t do it through generosity.
“That’s the whole nature of taxing, that it operates in a criminal underworld.”
Sunkel said the Head Hunters East chapter runs annual fight nights and charges for tickets.
The 232 Marua Rd headquarters includes a large boxing gym called Fight Club 88, using the common shorthand for the Head Hunters, with 8 representing H as the eighth letter. Earlier, the court heard how associates are called 22s and prospects 44s.
Marua Rd also has a pool, kitchen and nine accommodation rooms, Sunkel said.
Sunkel described the Head Hunters as having a fairly horizontal structure.
While the gang is divided into chapters, it is united by a shared value system and common ground, he said.
The detectives who gave evidence described Doyle as having acted as the liaison point for police when they needed a contact during motorcycle runs or search warrants, though the Head Hunters retained a hard and fast rule against giving statements.
But relations have become strained and sometimes confrontational since the raids which terminated the Criminal Proceeds investigation in 2017.
Key to the case is a company and web of trusts the prosecution said are used by the Head Hunters.
Among them is the That Was Then, This Is Now (TWTTIN) charitable trust, set up in 2001 with the stated goal of helping prisoners reintegrate into the community. The prosecution says the trust is merely the Head Hunters by another more palatable name.
The Marua Rd property is owned by East 88 Property Holdings Limited (PHL).
Doyle is the sole director of East 88 PHL and owns a third of the property via his Doyle Trust. The other third is owned by Doyle and other trustees, and the final third is held by various individual trusts controlled by patched Head Hunters, with Doyle a joint trustee of every one, Purdon said.
The purchase of the property shortly after Doyle left prison in 2001 was funded by loans paid off in their entirety in just four years, Purdon said. Repayments were made from the bank account of East 88 PHL and the TWTTIN trust funded large amounts of donations.
“Not bad for a beneficiary,” Purdon said.
“The Commissioner’s case is that the transfer of funds to the Doyle entities, the deposits into those accounts ... was done for the purpose of laundering the proceeds of crime.
“The Commissioner’s case is that the property is tainted.”
Doyle has been attending each day of the trial, supported by family.
The case continues on Monday.
He spotted the man walking and swerved onto the footpath and hit him.