KEY POINTS:
Don't be fooled by the idiotic hand-signals and chaotic street-fights - the street gangs have a dangerous criminal edge.
They don't just want to bash, they want the "bling" too.
The street gang phenomenon began with Los Angeles arch-rivals the Bloods and Crips 40 years ago and has
since spread across the world through rap and hip-hop culture.
Imitations have been seen in one form or another on the New Zealand streets since the 1990s, with "wanna-bes" sporting the red bandanna of the Bloods or blue of the Crips.
Now, despite still being classified officially as "youth gangs", many have spawned into organised criminal groups with members in their 20s or even 30s.
The career path to full-on gang status is marked by a series of steps: wanna-bes; territorial neighbourhood street crews; youth gangs taking part in self-serving petty crime; to the top-tier of criminal street gangs vying for organised crime status.
The LA-style gang culture is ever-present, with many of the street gangs imitating their heroes and producing rap songs.
Their partners and young children embrace the culture, too.
Even "adult" gangs like Black Power - which conveniently has blue as its colour - have caught on, with rap star Kurupt, a Crips icon, once partying in private with their most senior members.
A big part of this culture is bling: souped-up cars, fashionable clothes, girls and drugs are ever-present themes. This "hyper-materialism" sits alongside hyper-violence as a defining feature of the street gangs.
A "juvie offender" who commits hundreds of burglaries at the direction of a "senior pro" may not be involved in violence but brings a different kind of grief to the community that doesn't make headlines, attract major police resources or result in tough prison sentences.
It is not just confined to South Auckland. There are 2000 street gang members across the city and they are also popping up around the rest of New Zealand.
There are other variations - one has only African members and others are made up of girls.
The international influence means New Zealand is not alone: the Tongan Crip Gang and Sons of Samoa are firmly established in the American gang scene.
In this year's Tongan riots, young men sent home after falling under the gang influence, either in Auckland or Salt Lake City, teamed up to wreak havoc on Nuku'alofa.
New Zealand has had problems with street and youth gangs for 50 years, but gang historian and Canterbury University sociologist Jarrod Gilbert says today's has the potential to be the worst.
Gilbert says the body count would be much higher if it wasn't so difficult to get black market firearms, particularly handguns.
The Bodgies of the 1950s, the motorcycle gangs and ethnic gangs wanted to reject society but the street gangs are materialistic and are essentially a product of it.
They might be bad now, he says, but we have yet to see street gangs in an economic downturn.
Then society may see even more of their teeth as they hunt for bling.
