Gang patch ban: Bloods added to list after missing out when law first introduced

Two more gangs have been added to the list of groups subject to the patch ban.

Anyone wearing the insignia of the Bloods or the TwoEight Brotherhood in public will soon risk prosecution after they were added to the list of identified gangs subject to the Gangs Act 2024.

The move comes after the Herald revealed earlier this month the Crips were on the initial list of identified gangs, but not their sworn rivals the Bloods, and that police were already seeking to expand the list covered by the new law.

Several historically notable, but older, less active or defunct gangs remain missing from the list.

The Bloods and TwoEight Brotherhood appeared in a piece of secondary legislation stating that they will be included in the Gangs Act from February 3, 2024.

The Bloods is a gang originating in Los Angeles known for its longstanding rivalry with the Crips. Local imitations of both gangs began to emerge in Auckland in the 1990s and gained a foothold among South Auckland street gangs.

TwoEight Brotherhood has members in South Auckland and the numbers are understood to refer to B and H in brotherhood, being the second and eighth letters of the alphabet. The 28s are believed to have close ties with the Crips offshoot Crips Family in South Auckland.

In a press statement on Thursday, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the two new gangs subject to the legislation were added to the list following an order from Cabinet.

“This means the public display of their insignia will be prohibited, and their members subject to police dispersal notices, and court-issued non-consorting orders,” Mitchell said.

Hundreds of gang members at the tangi of William "Bird" Hines in Foxton in November 2023. Of the gangs pictured, the Head Hunters, Greazy Dogs and Nomads are subject to the current insignia ban under the new Gangs Act, but the Hu-Hu MC (member lower left) are not. Photo / Bevan Conley

“Repeat offenders continually convicted of displaying their patches in public will be subject to a court order, prohibiting them from possessing any gang insignia either in public or private for five years.

“Greater weight will also be given to gang membership at sentencing, enabling courts to enact more severe punishments.”

Schedule 2 of the Gangs Act 2024 initially set out a list of 35 gangs whose insignia, including patches, are now illegal to display in public.

They included international outlaw motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels, Mongols and Rebels, traditional patched gangs originating in New Zealand like the Mongrel Mob, Black Power and King Cobras, and lesser-known groups including the Kuki Squad, the Damned Pirates and the Full Blooded Islanders (FBI).

Police said for a gang to be eligible for Schedule 2, it must have a common name or identifying signs or symbols, be currently active in New Zealand and have members or associates who have been convicted of an offence carrying a maximum possible prison term of two years or more in the past five years.

As a result, some older and less active, or defunct gangs, previously listed in 2013 legislation banning insignia from government buildings are not listed in the new law.

Gangs listed in the 2013 government building ban but not in the new patch ban law include Tokoroa’s Hu-Hu MC, the defunct Lost Breed MC formerly of Nelson, Upper Hutt’s Sinn Fein MC and the Southern Vikings.

It is less than five years since two Bloods members in Auckland, Janeiro Tapusoa and Leroy Tinei, were convicted for murdering Sam Tupou, who they mistook for a Crip because he was wearing a blue singlet, though he was not associated with any gang.

Both Bloods and Crips members have been responsible for several serious assaults on Corrections staff in recent years, according to data released by the department under the Official Information Act.

Earlier this month, the Herald asked police why the Crips were listed in the new law but the Bloods were not.

Police said in a statement that Schedule 2 of the Gangs Act 2024 included the same 35 gangs currently on the police National Gang List.

“However, the act also allows for a subtle but important broadening of the scope of gangs to be included in Schedule 2 compared to the NGL,” the statement said.

“Police’s Gang Harm Insights Centre has and continues to assess gangs that may meet the new criteria.

“Police are currently in the process of developing further recommendations to ministers for changes to Schedule 2, which will be submitted shortly and ultimately determined by ministers on advice from police.”