A large Mongrel Mob procession in Central Hawke's Bay as part of the Notorious chapter's national leader Sonny Smith's tangi. Photo / NZME
A large Mongrel Mob procession in Central Hawke's Bay as part of the Notorious chapter's national leader Sonny Smith's tangi. Photo / NZME
Ben Douglas lives in Waipukurau, a few kilometres down the road from Mongrel Mob Notorious leader Sonny Smith’s tangi. While currently working in resource management, he has a background in the education sector and foster care.
OPINION
It was a bit surreal to read several times over recent weeks, href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/mongrel-mob-tangi-in-central-hawkes-bay-police-say-there-have-been-no-incidents-as-more-than-1000-gang-members-gather/WKUWJ3SAUBHFDCKHZ6AHSPHNBM/" target="_blank">locals extolling the benefits of a Mongrel Mob tangi to the local community.
A Waipawa man was quoted as saying Sonny Smith’s tangi was ”good for the town”, and talked about the benefits to local businesses, such as the fish and chip shops, petrol stations and gym.
An Ōpōtiki motel owner then struck a similar tone, saying he found the 24 mobsters staying in his premises “friendly”, they left their rooms in great condition and he would “welcome them back any time”.
But this celebration of the supposed benefits of gang activities to communities is short-sighted and ignores the wider realities of the impacts of gang activities on society.
It’s a strange sign of the times that this needs pointing out, but gangs are not just regular “groups” or “clubs”. Gangs by definition, are criminal organisations, or as one brand of dictionary puts it “groups of people working to unlawful or antisocial ends”.
There is no ambiguity in that definition - it’s not that some gangs are involved in crime, it’s rather that all groups, to be labelled “gangs”, have a core intent, if not purpose, to commit crime.
Police keeping a close eye on Mongrel Mob members attending the tangi in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland
Yes, gang members might be engaging and friendly on a one-to-one basis, yes some might cut up and serve sandwiches in a school canteen, and yes, some might look after their families and be great fathers or mothers, uncles or aunts, but out of the spotlight, make no mistake, the core business of gangs has always been and remains crime. To condone gangs, to legitimise gangs and anything they do, is to accept and condone their effects on individuals and on society.
Recent years have seen gangs attempt to increase their legitimacy in society. In 2019, the University of Canterbury invited senior Mongrel Mob Kingdom member Mark Griffiths to speak as a guest lecturer, talking to the young sociology cohort in front of him all about how the chapter was stamping out the use of methamphetamine and doing great things for their people.
Locally in Hawke’s Bay, the $2.75 million Government funding of a Mongrel Mob-led meth rehabilitation programme beggared belief. Given, as our court pages show, the Mongrel Mob is one of the primary distributors, if not also manufacturers, of meth, the logic was difficult to follow.
Had they found the perfect business model - make millions from manufacturing and selling an illegal substance that ruins lives and families and more millions from supposedly helping people get off it?
Or were they genuinely attempting to keep their own off the insidious and destructive effects of the drug while happily peddling it to the rest of society?
Gang apologists stress the factors that cause many people to choose a gang lifestyle; hard upbringings, abuse - often in State institutions - or just being raised in a gang environment and not knowing any other way of life.
It’s easy for those of us fortunate enough not to have been in those situations to judge, but these are all tragic and legitimate points.
But does that legitimise gangs and the crime ingrained in their lifestyles?
Every person wearing a patch on their back, no matter their demeanour or how much money they spend in the local economy, has made conscious decisions to do “unlawful and antisocial” and often just downright terrible things to earn that right.
Yes, gang members should be encouraged and helped to leave gangs and the life of crime that involves.
Yes, gangs will likely always be a part of society in some form, regardless of Government policy. Do they deserve legitimacy and acceptance? That’s another question altogether.
