When armed members of the Rebels MC gang stormed into rival Devils Henchmen’s renowned clubhouse earlier this month and kicked them out, police and locals were worried about potential gang warfare. But just days later, the old Henchmen, whose origins date back 50 years, sold the property to the local
How Devils Henchmen outwitted pad-raiding Rebels MC rivals - and pocketed $1m-plus in the process
The Rebels MC muscling into the Devils Henchmen's Timaru clubhouse caused high gang tensions in the town. Photos / ODT, Supplied
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The Henchmen were pretty chill these days though, with original members getting on in years. They were described as model neighbours, never any issue. A memorial party last month at gang headquarters - 90 Meadows Rd, Washdyke, just north of Timaru – which invited all ex-members, prospects and supporters, reminded them that it was now time to “pay homage to the present, not live in the past”.
But any serenity the Devils Henchmen may have had was brutally snapped over the weekend of May 6-7.
Seemingly without warning, a squad of heavy-hitting, patched Rebels MC gang members, including senior figures, rolled south from their Christchurch pad.
They were on a mission: to take over the Henchmen’s mighty clubhouse.
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Armed with shotguns, the Weekend Herald understands, they stormed the building and told the occupants it was over. They were taking the pad.
There was little to be done. The Henchmen had to go, leaving behind several beloved motorbikes.
By Monday morning, a Rebels flag – a Confederate flag with a grinning skull and 1% symbol – was draped from the top-floor balcony.
Locals were stunned by the audacious strong-arm tactics. And worried. They doubted the Devils Henchmen would take the affront lying down.
“It was actually bloody scary,” one local resident said. “Like, there was no way this would end quietly.”
The Devils Henchmen, which formed in Christchurch in 1973, built their Timaru chapter clubhouse in the 1990s, with the club’s then 20-odd members each chipping in $500 before getting a loan from financier Allan Hubbard’s South Canterbury Finance for an investment property on Wai-iti Rd that they rented out and eventually made a $50,000 profit on, according to Patched – The History of Gangs in New Zealand by Jarrod Gilbert. Other contributions came from the club’s firewood business and membership fees.
Meanwhile, the raiding Rebels were going to work inside their spoils of war. They painted over logos, ripped out all Devils Henchmen insignia and memorabilia, even, it’s understood, chiselling out the gang’s name from tailormade wooden bar leaners.
That afternoon though, two women returned. It’s understood they were affiliated with the Henchmen, and they were angry.
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After speaking to men through the fence, the bold pair drove up to the main gate, wrapped a chain around it, and ripped it off. They went inside and demanded the return of one of the motorbikes.
“They told them what was going to happen, and they did it,” one source told the Weekend Herald.
Police were called in – although just who made the call is not clear – and they later confirmed there had been “a dispute over the possession/ownership” of a motorcycle.
After speaking to the parties involved, officers were able to facilitate the return of the motorcycle to its rightful owner,” a spokeswoman said. No charges were laid.
What followed was a week of high tension. Reports of gunshots that Thursday prompted an armed police response. Roads were blocked before officers were stood down.
“While the activity does suggest some tensions between the two gangs, there have been no reports which have required police involvement,” Aoraki Area Commander Inspector Vicki Walker said at the time.
It was clear something had to give though. And just over a week after the Rebels muscled in, the cops raided the joint.
Carrying out a pre-planned search warrant, they pulled the place apart. The Weekend Herald understands that several hidden guns, including one imitation firearm, were found.
Behind the scenes, Timaru District Council were making moves of their own.
The local mayor Nigel Brown had been outspoken against gangs in the past, saying they simply weren’t welcome in the district. The Road Knights’ old High St gang headquarters had been razed the week before after being sold in March to Timaru Developments Ltd.
On Tuesday, May 16, the local authority confirmed they had bought the 8766sq m Meadows Rd property.
With a September 2020 capital value of $1.26 million, according to qv.co.nz, the council won’t disclose the final figure, but the Weekend Herald understands it was closer to $1.8m.
Within hours of the sale going through, trespass notices for the land were issued and then the diggers rumbled straight in.
By 4.30pm, with police and locals watching on, most of the buildings had been flattened.
“Members of the community had been expressing real concern about the possibility of an expansion of gang activity in Timaru, and I think it’s important to send a clear and unequivocal message that they are not welcome in our district,” Mayor Bowen said.
The council has indicated it will on-sell the property “to enable industrial expansion in the area”.
“Doing this has enabled us to make a major investment in community safety, which won’t cost ratepayers anything, and that will supply more valuable industrial land back to our economy,” the mayor said.
“The council taking this step is only one way of tackling this issue. It’s important that the community continues to turn their back on gangs. Don’t sell to them and let them get a foothold in our towns, refuse their business, and don’t provide services to them or their businesses.”
He added: “It’s more important now than ever that the community is united in closing their doors to gangs and their members.”
Area commander Walker wouldn’t comment on the property transaction, saying only that it “involved two parties external to police”.
However, she said police are still on high alert, aware of “some recent activity which suggests some tension between gangs”.
“We know that any gang activity in our community causes concern for residents and we are committed to keeping a visible presence in our community to provide reassurance,” Walker said.
There has been a seismic shift in Canterbury’s gang landscape in recent years.
In have come Australian bikie gangs like the Mongols MC and Rebels MC, shaking up the city’s established underworld hierarchy.
The Rebels was the first Australian motorcycle gang to establish a presence in New Zealand, in late 2010, but in recent years has been bolstered by senior members deported from Australia.
It has been joined by other outlaw motorcycle gangs, such as the Comancheros and Mongols, and although these deportees comprise a relatively small proportion of the thousands of so-called “501s”, nicknamed after the section of the immigration law used to remove them from Australia, dozens of them stamped their mark in New Zealand’s criminal world.
In 2020, Mongols MC members, including national president Jim David “JD” Thacker, himself a 501 deportee, established a chapter in Christchurch after patching over ex-members of the notorious Hells Angels international bikie group, including Jason Ross, who would be made the local president.
A 2019 New Zealand Police organised crime governance group insights report found that the New Zealand adult gang population is “growing rapidly”, and violent and drug-related crime was proportionally rising.
New Zealand police launched Operation Cobalt last July to respond to a spike in intimidating behaviour and violence by gangs in the first half of the year.
Since then, the police have seized hundreds of firearms and laid thousands of charges in court, as well as confiscating commercial quantities of drugs and large sums of cash.
