Weapons found after police executed search warrants for Operation Silk. Photo / NZ Police
A key Crown witness in a gang trial has spoken of doing drug exchanges, stacks of cash, flash vehicles, a van used for "getting rid of someone", as well as a man dubbed "Two Times", as he says everything twice.
The witness, who has name suppression, is giving evidence to a jury in the High Court at Hamilton today via audio-visual link.
Nine Mongols members, including president Jim Thacker – known as "JD", "Jack Daniels", or "the Cap", is alleged to have had overarching control of its drug dealing operation – and vice president Hone Ronaki are defending 118 charges related to drug dealing and supply, firearms, aggravated robbery, and money laundering.
The other defendants are the South Island president Jason Ross, 46, sergeant at arms Leon "the Wolf" Huritu, 39, Kelly Petrowski, 28, Matthew Ramsden, 45, Kane Ronaki, 24, Te Reneti Tarau, 26, and a 28-year-old man with interim name suppression.
The accused are either "office holders", members, or associates of the Mongols from around the country, including Hawke's Bay, Christchurch and Auckland.
The Crown alleges they were responsible for the commercial supply of drugs throughout New Zealand and were involved in "tit-for-tat" shootings with rival gangs, including one in Tauranga, where Mongols members fired 96 rounds of ammunition at a house where children were present.
The gang allegedly obtained, distributed, and broke down quantities of drugs and sold them for profit. They used the firearms to service that drug trade, Pollett said.
"They were regularly in possession of firearms and they weren't afraid to use them to ensure the rival gangs in the Bay of Plenty knew they were in town and knew they were here to stay."
He then drove to Picton with the drugs, two cylindrical shaped packages, stashed in the vehicle's roof compartment above the light and meeting his contact named, "Two Times", as he "says everything twice".
Two Times gave him $7000 cash which he took back to Te Puke.
He also revealed how the accused broke off from the Bandidos and formed the Mongols gang, with Thacker taking the national president's role.
He said there was an incident at a Bandidos gathering in Christchurch and one of Thacker's members got beaten up.
Several members, including Thacker and Hone Ronaki, were then asked to give their patches back but they refused, he said.
They then found another gang to "jump on", the Mongols, and he soon began seeing T-shirts being worn and about two months later, patches.
The witness said he went on to become a prospect for the gang and was motivated by the money and his love of driving.
He also spoke of storing guns, ammunition, and drugs at his house, including a swimming pool box full of larger weapons, including AR15, AK47, and long rifles.
"I was looking after them for them so if they ever needed them they were there."
He was also given a suitcase full of ammunition and smaller firearms to store, along with a toolbox full of methamphetamine.
Hone Ronaki had the key to the toolbox and eventually opened it and made bags of methamphetamine to sell in either ounces or half ounces.
"He had a list of who wanted what shit … he would scoop it into a container and weigh it, flick it three times, every time."
Asked by Pollett what he did with the drugs, the witness used a racially offensive term to describe Whakatane where he claimed the drugs were given to Black Power gang members.
"Head down to N*****tane, or Whakatane … going to see n*****, so some Black Power ... to give them their shit … all the bags of meth that he had made up."
When changing over to the Mongols, the gang also changed the way they communicated, ditching Wickr and moving to Cipher ones.
His next drug trip for the gang, was taking down a 2kg package of drugs and a 4 litre bottle of liquid and given $100,000 cash, bundled up in $5000 lots in a shoebox to take back.
The witnesses will continue to give evidence tomorrow, while the trial itself is set to continue until the end of October and is being overseen by Justice Melanie Harland.