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Lasalosi Vaitohi and co-defendants are on trial for the murder of Peter Rasmussen.
Prosecutors allege the Crips gang targeted Rasmussen’s grandson, a rival gang member, but shot Rasmussen instead.
Jailhouse calls reveal what authorities say were coded discussions about obtaining a gun and plans to “send a message”.
Just before 1am on the same day that 75-year-old Peter Rasmussen was fatally shot at his South Auckland home, prosecutors say Crips 23 gang leader Lasalosi Vaitohi was on the phone in his jail cell – discussing in barely coded language how to obtain a gunso an underling on the outside could carry out a shooting.
“... It’s only going to come out for a 187,” an associate told Vaitohi – allegedly a reference to section 187 of the California penal code, which defines the charge of murder.
Vaitohi replied: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell him yeah, we need this one.”
That recording and a series of other jailhouse calls were played for jurors on Tuesday as Vaitohi, 33, continues to stand trial for murder alongside fellow Crips members Ethan Jessop, 25, and Daziea Leslie Huia, 21.
Rasmussen bled to death on the kitchen floor of his Ōtāhuhu home on the evening of August 22, 2021 – just days after all of New Zealand had returned to a strict lockdown because of the emergence of the Covid-19 Delta variant.
Prosecutors allege Vaitohi and his co-defendants were actually trying to target Rasmussen’s grandson – Killer Beez member Zahrn Rasmussen, known as Obey, who had recently robbed a Crips-controlled drug house. He was on electronically monitored community detention and, combined with the lockdown, should have been at home.
But when the elder Rasmussen tried to shoo Jessop off his doorstep, saying no one else was there, the younger man opened fire. Jessop’s lawyer has acknowledged he was the shooter but said there was never murderous intent behind the single gunshot to the leg.
Armed police guard the scene of a fatal shooting in Ōtāhuhu, in August 2021. Peter Rasmussen, 75, died at the scene and now Lasalosi Vaitohi, Ethan Jessop and Daziea Leslie Huia are on trial for murder. Composite photo / NZME
The Crown, however, has suggested the plan all along was to shoot at the house and whoever happened to be in it to send a message regardless of whether the younger Rasmussen was there.
After prosecutors played the calls, Justice David Johnstone read aloud a statement from Jason Jamal Marks, a retired California Department of Corrections special agent who formerly served on an FBI task force focusing on the Crips and the Bloods. He had been scheduled to give evidence via audio-visual feed but was unavailable, the judge noted.
Marks confirmed the widespread usage of the term “187″ among gangs, although he acknowledged he does not have experience with New Zealand gangs or the South Auckland chapter of the gang that is the focus of the trial. The Crips originated in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s.
“This penal code section is a popular term referring to murder or the act of committing murder or a violent assault with intent,” the expert said.
“Based on my experience as a gang investigator from 2008 to 2020, the terms and concept ‘187′ is well-known by gang members and the community as an offensive term referring to a death or murder. I have listened to more than 100 jail calls and read more than 100 jail correspondence letters authored by gang members using the term ‘187′ ... By using this term, gang members were able to intimidate and threaten rival gang members without being specific or showing premeditation for a murder. Gang members are aware that the premeditation or threat to commit murder constitutes a California penal code violation, resulting in criminal prosecution.”
Marks noted that “187″ was also associated with gangster rap, with rapper Snoop Dogg having referenced “187 on an undercover cop” in his 1992 song Deep Cover. In that context too, he said, it’s used “for intimidation purposes”.
The American gang expert also noted that Crips members are known to wear blue clothing and avoid red – the colour of long-time rival gang the Bloods in Los Angeles. They often refer to each other as “three” or intersperse the word into sentences – a reference, he said, to C, the third letter of the alphabet.
Calls played for jurors on Tuesday did include frequent references to “three” as well as “uatolu” – the Tongan word for 23, described as a direct reference to the group’s specific Crips offshoot, the 23s.
Defence lawyer Emma Priest, representing Jessop, suggested a different use of the number 187. She used Vaitohi’s own words on another prison call five days before Rasmussen’s death in which he discussed starting a music label called 187 Records.
Peter Rasmussen, 75, died in August 2021.
“Do you know what the 187 stands for?” Vaitohi asked an associate. “When we say 187 the boys, that’s what I made up, it stands for ruthless gang. The 18 is the R ... and the seven the G. That’s the ruthless gang.”
In addition to the conversation alleged to be about the gun and the conversation about a record label, 187 was referenced one other time in Vaitohi’s prison calls. He and Jessop were on the phone at 2.42am, two days after Rasmussen’s death.
“Was there another thing in East Side?” Vaitohi asked. “Another 187?”
Jessop replied: “Yeah, three, someone in Panmure ... Someone popped him, siana [Tongan for man]. Everyone getting racked out here.”
Vaitohi responded with an expletive.
“Nah, it’s all threes,” Jessop responded. “That’s why we got ugly Beth - Big Bad Beth.”
The Crown has alleged Beth was what Jessop had nicknamed the gun that was used to kill Rasmussen.
In other calls played Tuesday, Vaitohi appeared to show resentment over the recent robbery of the drug house and tried to investigate who was behind it – suspecting fellow gang member Huia, his co-defendant, before determining that the younger Rasmussen and his girlfriend were to blame.
“The thing why we have to do this, so everyone knows that our gang ain’t to be f***ed with,” Vaitohi told co-defendant Jessop during a 1.17pm call from prison on August 19 that year – three days before the fatal shooting. “Sends a message, like you know, f***, our team is f***ing, siana [man] we’re the team now.”
The duo chatted again six hours later.
“That’s our style, cuz,” Vaitohi continued. “We’ll just pull up, do the damn thing – no little chit-chat. F***, just do the damn thing.”
Ethan Jessop appears in the Auckland High Court accused of murdering 75-year-old Peter Rasmussen at his home on August 22, 2021. Photo / Jason Oxenham
He then quickly added: “Nah, it’s good to plan it. It’s good to plan, though, just so don’t get caught, you know.”
Later that night he discussed the younger Rasmussen’s girlfriend while chatting with another gang associate, Amit Singh.
“Tell her when we catch her we’re gonna cut her hair baldy, bro,” he said. “Cut her hair baldy and tattoo a big f***ing c*** on her face, bro ... Cuz, bro, to be honest, cuz, she’s the first people I’m gonna smash, bro.”
The woman died that same week from an unrelated asthma attack, jurors were told. But Vaitohi also faces a charge of participating in a conspiracy to injure her.
On his last call that night, Vaitohi was told by another associate that Zahrn Rasmussen lived with his grandfather.
The following day, Vaitohi told co-defendant Huia that he was no longer a suspect and discussed going to the Rasmussen home.
“You got a taahine on you?” Vaitohi asked Huia.
Prosecutors have said taahine is Tongan for girl but it was also a frequently used code for gun.
“Aye? No taahines?” Vaitohi asked again. “Why don’t you have one?
The two then discussed plans to pick up a taahine.
“You drive over there and get the taahine to the cuz,” Vaitohi said. “Tell him to thing him.”
Daziea Leslie Huia appears in the High Court at Auckland co-defendants accused of murdering 75-year-old South Auckland rugby league mentor Peter Rasmussen at his home. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Huia responded: “What, thing the house up?”
“Yeah,” Vaitohi said. “Thing it right up, aye.”
Huia asked if there would be a “taahine for us to grab” and Vaitohi promised he’d “sort one out right now”.
“Yeah, yeah, all good,” Vaitohi responded. “Uatolu [23].”
Vaitohi got on the phone a short time later and asked another man if he had any taahines and was asked what it would be used for. He explained it was to “thing up Obey”.
“He will be there at grandpa’s,” the other man told Vaitohi.
The defendant responded: “Yeah, all good. Thing up the whole - make them all know.” He added: “Come to our f***ing home and think he can do that and f***ing live peacefully, aye? ... F***, this dude doesn’t even know what he’s gotten himself into.”
Vaitohi floated the idea of “sending the boys to go wait for the morning and just wait till he comes out and just thing him right there”.
“All the lil’ homies are ready to go, good to go,” he added.
With a laugh, he suggested the plan would “give us a chance to test our soldiers ... and at the same time teach the world a lesson”.
In a series of calls on the night before the shooting, Vaitohi and Jessop spoke again.
“Everything’s all sorted for tomorrow,” Jessop said, explaining that he would go “under the radar for four days” afterwards. Vaitohi encouraged him to get another person to go along with him.
“Man, I’m getting itchy feet, three,” Jessop said around 11pm, eliciting a laugh from Vaitohi.
“F***ing keep your cool and kick back, bro,” Vaitohi suggested, adding on a follow-up call 30 minutes later: “Just kick back tonight, cuz, cos you’re working tomorrow. ... After this, go straight to mohe [sleep] after this bro.”
The two briefly spoke again the following evening, just minutes before Rasmussen was shot. Jessop said he had to kill his phone.
“Yeah, three, I’m just on that faiva [Tongan for movie] right now,” he said.
Police at the house of Peter Rasmussen in Otahuhu who was shot dead in August 2021. Photo / Michael Craig
Prosecutors also played calls in the aftermath of the shooting in which Vaitohi asked people if they had any information about the incident. He appeared surprised when one woman gave him details she’d found in an online Herald report.
Vaitohi’s last prison call that was shared with jurors took place a month after the shooting, in September 2021. In the discussion, with an unknown male, Vaitohi bragged of the power he had over the gang even while incarcerated.
“It’s funny cos I can still control everything, like, um, still can organise everything from in here,” he said. “ ... When I organise it, it just make me feel a part of it, aye cuz.”
Prosecutors are expected to continue calling witnesses when the trial resumes today in the High Court at Auckland.
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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