The main convoy of Tribesmen MC members is stopped at a police drink-driving and licensing checkpoint. Video / NZ Herald
Police have delivered a belated birthday present following a gang’s 40th anniversary party and motorcycle ride: a whopping 160 tickets, plus a few arrests and vehicle seizures.
Their action followed the Tribesmen Motorcycle Club’s ride and gathering at the Allely Estate, a secluded function venue set among vineyards in Kumeū, rural west Auckland on Friday, November 11.
Neither the venue nor the gang wanted to comment on the celebrations at the time but a pristine new bike could be seen on a stage inside the estate before the event started. Alley’s website touts its extensive manicured gardens, courtyards, turn-of-the-century villa and “magnificent marquee with its six-metre-high ceiling and chandeliers”.
A mass motorcycle ride preceded the party, held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Tribesmen’s Ōtara chapter.
In the week before the gathering, the gang’s president Dion “Buzz” Snell was shot in the stomach outside the main shopping area in Ōtara as fans celebrated Samoa’s 20-18 victory over Tonga in the Rugby League World Cup.
Police stopped dozens of patched Tribesmen during the operation outside the upscale Kumeū venue where the gang held their anniversary bash. Photo / NZ Herald
There were initially fears the shooting could break the truce between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez. The rival gangs were involved in a tit-for-tat war earlier this year until a ceasefire was called to halt the string of drive-by shootings and suspicious fires.
But the Herald understands the Killer Beez are no longer suspected of being involved in the shooting of Snell.
He did not co-operate with the police investigation and was discharged from hospital in order to take part in the celebrations.
When dozens of riders and other hangers-on arrived just after noon at the Old North Rd venue, they were met by a police checkpoint where officers breathalysed the riders and checked their bikes. Court bailiffs were also on-site for bail breaches.
Tribesmen approach the checkpoint on November 11. Photo / NZ Herald
Inspector Matt Laurenson, police area commander for Waitematā North, said along with the checkpoint, staff also conducted “mobile patrols across the roading network” targeting the gang riders.
“Overall, 160 infringement notices were issued, which included driving offences,” he said.
Two attendees were found to be driving with excess breath alcohol and there were two arrests for unrelated matters.
Police also impounded five vehicles, Laurenson said.
“Our presence showed that Police would not tolerate any unlawful or intimidatory behaviour taking place on the road.
Police speak to a member of the Tribesmen at a checkpoint in Kumeū ahead of the gang's 40th anniversary. Photo / NZ Herald
“A key focus in our operation was to ensure the Kumeū community could go about their business safely with minimal disruption.”
The Tribesmen formed in Murupara in 1980, then started other chapters in Ōtara and Northland, before heading south more recently to establish a presence in Christchurch.
A number of patched members have been convicted of serious drug and violence offences, including murder, and the Tribesmen have been at the centre of a high-profile gang war with the Killer Beez earlier this year.
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.
In Masters’ absence from Ōtara, many of the original Killer Beez 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.
Riders approach the venue where police established a checkpoint. Photo / NZ Herald
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.
The first convoy of Tribesmen members arrive at a Kumeū vineyard for the gang's 40th anniversary celebrations. Photo / NZ Herald
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.
Tribesmen members waiting at a police checkpoint in Kumeū. Photo / NZ Herald
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 member.
The potential 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.
In a show of unity last month, members of both gathered together to pay their respects to one of the founding fathers of the Tribesmen, “Oldman” Roy Katene, who had passed away.
