KEY POINTS:
Tensions have risen as hundreds of Tribesmen and Killer Beez gang members from across the North Island prepare to converge on the Bay of Plenty this weekend.
Police have issued a stern warning to the gangs - they won't tolerate members "running amok" in the region.
But one
gang leader says they are planning a peaceful and fun event and it will only "turn ugly" if the police "get in our way".
Murupara's Tribesmen Motorcycle Gang is holding its inaugural poker run on Saturday.
The event involves gang members, mainly on motorcycles, travelling to five different secret locations in the Murupara area.
They will be dealt a card at each stop, the winner being the person with the best poker hand.
Tribesmen leader Peter Hunt, from Murupara, said the winner would get a trophy, cash and taonga (treasure) from Murupara iwi Ngati Manawa.
He described the poker run as a "whakapapa run", with contestants learning about the Ngati Manawa area at each location. He wouldn't disclose the cash prize, saying it depended on how many contestants entered. Each had to pay a $20 fee.
He said more than 150 gang members from Murupara, Northland, Auckland and Wellington would stay at Tipapa and Rangitahi marae in Murupara and were expected to arrive tonight.
"That's just whanau. There will be more supporters coming with them."
Mr Hunt's partner and fellow poker-run organiser, Mavis Boynton, said she expected the odd gang member would "play up" to the police.
"But [the police] are looking at the worst-case scenario," she said. "They are not looking at the positives that come out of this."
Mr Hunt said the gang had met police staff and told them they would abide by the law "as best we could".
"If they get in our way, it will get ugly. But we don't want it to get ugly."
Rotorua police area controller Inspector Bruce Horne said the gang had been warned its members had to obey the same rules as everyone else.
"If you think you can bring a whole lot of gang members to a small provincial town and run amok, then you are wrong."
Inspector Greg Sparrow of the Rotorua police is leading the operation. He wouldn't reveal how many police were involved, saying only that it would be a "large contingent".
"Our action will be dictated by their behaviour. I am hopeful they will abide by the rules and the law."
Mr Sparrow said the safety aspect was made worse by the fact it was Queen's Birthday Weekend and the roads in and out of Rotorua would be busy with holidaymakers.
Several Murupara people the Daily Post spoke to said they were worried about potential trouble from the gang members but few wanted to be quoted.
Murupara Holiday Park manager John Edmonds said the noise from the motorcycles was intimidating.
"You get 40 bikes and it makes a hell of a noise. You can hear them coming a mile away. They sound like a squadron of bombers coming."
However, Mr Edmonds said that although the gang members weren't staying at his camp this weekend, he had hosted them there before and they weren't any trouble.
"Nothing was stolen. Not even a pillow."
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt said tomorrow's event would finish with a social at Rangitahi Marae.
It was to have featured Killer Beez leader and hip-hop performer Joshua Masters as the headline act, but he was arrested at the start of the month on suspicion of running a $500,000 methamphetamine drug ring.
Twenty 20 other gang members were also arrested.
THE GANGS
* The Killer Beez began five years ago as a feeder gang to the Tribesmen and is the fastest-growing gang in New Zealand.
* Tribesmen and the Killer Beez wear yellow and black.
* The Killer Beez started in South Auckland but now have members in Northland, Murupara and Kaingaroa.
* The leader of the Killer Beez is hip-hop artist and kickboxer Josh Masters, who is on remand in jail charged with running a drug ring with 20 other members.
- DAILY POST
