It was a strangely surreal scene, perhaps bordering on humorous if not for the potentially terrifying consequences.
A group of alleged Comancheros gang members sat cross-legged at a coastal park during a fine New Zealand day in November 2023, appearing to listen raptly as a US military vet gave a lesson on commando tactics. He had been flown to New Zealand specifically for the purpose.
“Kidneys, brachial, left carotid, right carotid,” the former Marine sergeant ticked off, demonstrating how to sneak up on someone from behind for a knife kill. “The reason why those are important to you from the front and the rear is because when you roll up on someone, you can come up from behind, you can puncture the carotid.
“I like using double-edged knives. The reason why is because if you miss this way, you can come back this way.”
Using a volunteer, he then demonstrated a sneak attack in which the victim would be immediately castrated.
“You want to get right up on ’em – that way as soon as you come up it’s one motion,” he continued. “Or if his intestines are out. You’re not taking your time, you pull with rage.”
The lesson, authorities allege, was part of a broader effort by the Comancheros to establish an elite “Ghost Squad” that would carry out their killings as the gang of primarily 501 deportees waged a battle for turf and dominance of the New Zealand drug trade.
Although the squad has been reported on previously, the public was given a never-before-seen inside look at the training as patched member Patrick Leonardo Langi, 27, last week became the first defendant sentenced for taking part in it.
Its “singular purpose is to carry out violence on behalf of Comanchero MC OCG to maintain control of the ‘underworld’”, according to the summary of facts Langi agreed to.
The defendant, already serving a sentence for shooting at family members of a Comanchero who wanted to leave the group, will now serve a longer sentence for participating in an organised criminal group.
Numerous other defendants have pleaded not guilty and await trial next year.
The idea for Ghost Squad appears to have been conceived in 2021.
“Starting planning and thinking ahead,” a high-ranking member allegedly wrote in a note about the squad that was later recovered by police. “We need to be more wiser & precise how we do our future hits.
“Hand pick 3 heavy sotias [a Tongan term for soldiers] to join the Como Elite Skope... Must master shots from 100-500 metres. Hand pick 4 heavy sotias to join the Como Elite Squad... Bullet proof vest for each of them & any gear needed.”
By 2023, authorities allege, training was in full swing and Langi appeared to be among the chosen ones.
The Marine sergeant, who served as a squad leader during battles in Afghanistan and had a background in law enforcement, arrived in New Zealand on November 12, 2023, specifically to train patched members of the gang, documents state.
Lihai Vimahi, national commander of the gang, had arranged his accommodations and access to gym facilities over the course of the month-long training. Vimahi has also pleaded guilty but has yet to be sentenced.
“The training provided ... included the use of firearms, specifically AR-15 rifles of the type used by military and law enforcement in the US,” the agreed summary of facts states. “As part of the selection course [he] conducted physical training tests, provided practical training and delivered educational presentations on para-military topics including patrolling, squad tactics, hand-to-hand combat, raids, firearm capabilities, room clearing, stalking, counter surveillance, land navigation and other topics.”
In an outline of the training the man provided to Vimahi, he told the gang leader to expect 14-hour training days equating to “a stress test from start to finish”.
“When they complete the month, if they do, you will know who they are to their core and they will be moving as a better team,” he wrote.
A video from Vimahi’s phone showed the former combat vet giving a PowerPoint lecture at Weymouth Community Hall while others sat behind classroom tables and took notes. A photo on Langi’s phone showed a similar presentation at the group’s South Auckland gang pad a week later.
Videos recovered by police also showed outdoor training, such as the knife attack exercise. The instructor also demonstrated a technique that involved slitting a victim’s throat, followed by stabbing him in the chest and slicing underneath his armpit from front to back.
On another day, participants were filmed wearing camouflage makeup and outfits while conducting combat drills at War Adventures airsoft centre near Waiuku.
Eight days later, the group underwent more practical training at a rural Northland location. A checklist for that event, later recovered by police, included night vision goggles, a drone, a “ghillie suit” commonly worn by snipers, sledgehammers for each man and “tools with nails” – known to be code for guns and ammo.
Photographs of a camp showed multiple firearms, including one identified as a prohibited 3D-printed semi-automatic weapon.
Of the 16 who started the training, only six made it to the end, according to the American trainer’s own notes.
“This number is consistent with [the gang’s] original stated intent of establishing two squads of four and three men as part of the tactical units,” court documents state. “This demonstrates the lengths the Comanchero MC OCG have gone to ... establish tactical teams to carry out violent offences on the group’s behalf.”
Langi was arrested in December 2023 for an unrelated attempted murder charge. Police wouldn’t make arrests for the training charges until the following September.
During a search after the attempted murder arrest, investigators found a camouflage backpack in Langi’s vehicle emblazoned with the number 12 – the number he adopted during the training.
Langi was sentenced out of the High Court at Auckland last August after prosecutors agreed to swap the attempted murder charge with one of discharging a firearm with reckless disregard.
Prosecutor Ben Kirkpatrick described the two back-to-back shootings carried out by Langi and co-defendant Elijah Meyer, a gang prospect, as a disturbing and unusual “targeted retribution” at an enemy’s family.
The duo had been sent in August 2023 to terrorise the family of Khalid Slaimankhel, a once high-profile member of the gang who wanted out but refused to pay a hefty fine for doing so. Slaimankhel was serving a six-year sentence at the time for his part in a Comancheros’ methamphetamine distribution scheme.
Langi and Meyer first opened fire at an Epsom property, firing at least three shots from outside.
“At the time of the shooting there were eight occupants within the house, including three young children playing in the master bedroom that was shot at,” court documents state.
Minutes later, the co-defendants arrived at a Hillsborough home. Meyer knocked on the front door aggressively, then opened fire when a man opened it. The victim managed to push the door shut and lock it, but Meyer took aim and shot three more times through the entrance window as the man fled up a set of stairs. One of the shots grazed the victim in the back.
Langi and Meyer were also charged with arson after torching two stolen cars that were used in the shootings.
Although Langi was not definitively identified as having fired a gun during the incidents, he was charged with the same offences for having aided or encouraged the crimes.
Justice Ian Gault ordered a sentence of four years and seven months’ imprisonment.
Langi is still serving the previous prison sentence and will have to complete it before he starts serving the sentence imposed last week by Judge Kathryn Maxwell in Auckland District Court.
She ordered a new term of two years and nine months, making for an overall cumulative sentence of seven years and four months’ imprisonment.
“Deterrence inevitably takes precedence,” the judge said of the sentencing exercise, acknowledging Langi was “not one of the leaders in terms of organising the training”.
Langi’s attendance at the training was required because of his membership, defence lawyer Jasper Rhodes said.
In addition to the prison term, the judge issued a firearms prohibition order for Langi. The order restricts him from being near firearms for 10 years after his release from prison and also makes it easier for police to conduct searches to make sure he is complying.
He opposed the order, but the judge noted the 501 deportee had a violent history in New Zealand and Australia and remains an “entrenched member” of the gang.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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