A truce has been called between rival gangs the Killer Beez and Tribesmen after a three-week blitz of shootings and suspicious fires. Manukau ward councillor Alf Filipaina is cautiously optimistic it will last. Video / Hayden Woodward / Brett Phibbs
The Tribesmen and Killer Beez have joined forces in a show of unity to honour one of Ōtara's "original gangsters" who died this week.
The rival gangs had a deeply personal feud which led to a three-week blitz of at least 23 drive-by shootings and suspicious fires across Auckland until a ceasefire was agreed in June.
The truce between the motorcycle gangs, once formally aligned before a bitter falling-out, has been maintained since then.
In the first public display of peace since the tit-for-tat war, members of both the Tribesmen and Killer Beez gathered together today to pay their respects to Roy Katene who passed away this week.
"Oldman Roy" Katene was one of the founding fathers of the Tribesmen chapter in Ōtara, the suburb in Manukau to which both gangs have a historical connection, with social media posts mourning the loss of an "OG" - or original gangster.
Dozens of motorcycles from both gangs formed a procession this afternoon to accompany Katene's body as he was taken from the Tipene Funerals home in Onehunga to the Ngāti Ōtara Marae.
The Tribesmen arrived at the marae first, followed by the Killer Beez, then a large convoy of cars and other vehicles.
Members of the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen gangs in a joint ride for Roy Katene's tangi at Ngati Ōtara Marae, Ōtara. Photo / NZME
Members of the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen gangs in a joint ride for Roy Katene's tangi at Ngati Ōtara Marae, Ōtara. Photo / NZME
Members of the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen gangs in a joint ride for Roy Katene's tangi at Ngati Ōtara Marae, Ōtara. Photo / NZME
An underworld source was hopeful that the public gathering of Killer Beez and Tribesmen, as a mark of respect for Katene, would reinforce the truce and draw a line under any lingering tensions.
While conflict and shootings between gangs has increased in recent years with the establishment of Australian motorcycle clubs, the conflict between the Tribesmen and the Killer Beez is far more personal.
The gangs were once closely aligned with the Killer Beez, more of a youth street gang in the mid-2000s, acting as a feeder group to the Tribesmen, a more traditional motorcycle club.
The gangs were so intertwined that president of the Killer Beez, Josh Masters, was also a patched Tribesmen member.
He was arrested in 2008 on methamphetamine and money-laundering charges, for which he was later convicted and received a sentence of 10 years and five months in prison.
Unfortunately, the harsh environment of prison proved an even more fertile ground for recruiting alienated and angry young men.
Roy Katene was one of the founding fathers of the Tribesmen motorcycle gang in Ōtara. Photo / Supplied
By the time Masters was released from prison in May 2018, the Killer Beez had grown to 312 members with a reputation as dangerous prisoners, with brutal attacks on other inmates and prison guards.
Once a ragtag group of childhood friends, the Killer Beez was now the fourth-largest gang in New Zealand behind the Head Hunters, Black Power and Mongrel Mob.
In Masters' absence from Ōtara, many of the original Killer Beez had graduated to the colours of the Tribesmen and re-established the gang's dominance in their old stomping ground.
His homecoming was met with resistance from his former friends, and tensions flared with a number of shootings as Masters reasserted the Killer Beez as a fully-fledged motorcycle club with distinctive white patches.
Everything came to a head in April 2019, when a senior Tribesmen member shot Masters inside the Harley Davidson dealership in Mt Wellington.
The man who pulled the trigger was Okusitino Tae, one of Masters' closest friends growing up, and a former Killer Beez soldier.
He handed himself in and was jailed for seven years. Masters got a life sentence - the president of the Killer Beez is paralysed from the waist down from his injuries.
Despite his physical limitations, Masters is clearly in charge of the Killer Beez and was most recently seen riding a quad bike in a convoy as part of the gang's recent annual conference.
After several years of relative peace, it's understood tensions flared again in March this year when the Tribesmen held a patching ceremony for new members in Papatoetoe.
Later that evening, Killer Beez fired at the address where the Tribesmen were celebrating.
While no one was hurt, this show of aggression set the scene for what followed.
So when some Killer Beez fell off their motorcycles on the Southern Motorway during the gang's conference in April, a video clip of the embarrassing crash was shared widely on social media by mocking Tribesmen.
The online humiliation inflamed the rivalry to the point where a senior member of the Killer Beez turned up at a rugby league practice with a firearm to threaten a senior Tribesmen.
The confrontation never took place. But the aggressive move was the catalyst for the five drive-by shootings over one weekend in late May, which spiralled over the next three weeks until the truce was called.
Josh Masters now rides a quad bike after suffering gunshot injuries which left him paralysed from the waist down. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Perhaps the most significant casualty of the conflict between the Tribesmen and the Killer Beez was the former Police Minister, Poto Williams.
She was relieved of the portfolio in June in a reshuffle of Cabinet by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said Williams had "lost focus" on the escalation of gang tensions and firearms.
Gangs have again become a political issue ahead of next year's election, with the National Party targeting Williams over her performance, and leader Christopher Luxon announcing the party would bring in new laws to ban gang members from wearing patches and gathering in public places.
Ardern criticised the ideas as "reactionary" and sociologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert said he didn't think the policies had any evidential basis, and rather what was needed was "good hard policing".
Soon afterwards, Police launched a dedicated operation to target gangs, called Operation Cobalt, with a dedicated taskforce in Auckland and smaller squads across the country, which started in July.
