Marc Patrick Johnson is wanted by the US Marshals service for his alleged role in a plot to import 400kg of cocaine into NZ. Photo / NZME composite
The United States Marshals have offered a $17,500 reward for the capture of a Kiwi fugitive wanted over a global plot to smuggle 400kg of cocaine into New Zealand.
Murray Michael Matthews, a patched member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Auckland, and his business partner Marc Patrick Johnson, one of the country’s original meth cooks, were arrested in Romania nearly five years ago.
The pair had flown to Bucharest in November 2020 to finalise a cocaine deal with someone they believed to be an international drug kingpin.
However, the purported drug supplier was an undercover agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) based in Texas.
The covert sting also led to the arrest of Marius Lazar, the president of the Bucharest chapter of the Hells Angels.
All three men were to be extradited from Romania to stand trial in Texas on serious criminal charges.
Lazar was eventually convicted of racketeering, conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
He was sentenced in January to 25 years in prison.
But Lazar is the only one to stand trial so far.
His Kiwi co-defendants, Matthews and Johnson, managed to escape from Romania in December 2022 after being granted bail during the extradition proceedings.
Both men had successfully evaded capture until Matthews was arrested in March riding motorcycles with other members of the Hells Angels in Spain.
He could be seen wearing his Hells Angels NZ patch in a video posted to social media by Spanish police.
The US is now seeking his extradition.
However, the whereabouts of Johnson is unknown.
Now, the US Marshals - the law enforcement agency tasked with hunting federal fugitives - has issued a $US10,000 ($NZ17,500) reward for information leading to his capture.
The ‘wanted poster’ for the 59-year-old states that Johnson is wanted on allegations of conspiracy to commit murder, importation of cocaine and money laundering.
“Johnson uses numerous aliases and has worked for decades as a narcotics trafficker, transporting 500kg amounts throughout Europe and the Pacific,” the US Marshals allege.
“Johnson has a longstanding relationship with the Hells Angels NZ motorcycle club.”
Also known as MJ, Rush or Captain, the US Marshals said Johnson should be considered “armed and dangerous”.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the US Marshals through the tipline.
While not a gang member, Johnson is a career criminal with a long and chequered past.
With a university degree in chemistry and years of experience working in laboratories in the United Kingdom, Johnson returned to NZ in the 1990s and started an event lighting business in the nightclub scene.
His drug addiction intertwined with his business interests however, leading to bankruptcy.
Johnson put his chemistry skills to work manufacturing methamphetamine, a relatively new and popular drug.
In 2001 he was convicted in two separate trials of attempting to manufacture and conspiring to manufacture meth, which was only a Class B drug at the time. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
“What saddens me is that you are a person of intellect and ability, and you have displayed a commitment in obtaining your qualifications,” the sentencing judge told Johnson.
“It is a matter for you, but let me say this to you, there is no future in being involved in the manufacture of drugs.
“All that will happen to you is that you will spend a lifetime in prison and you will know that all those individuals who consistently become involved in the narcotic scene, whether by way of manufacture, supply or importation, eventually end up serving very, very lengthy terms of imprisonment.
“It would be sad to see a person of your talents and ability end up like that.”
Only a few years passed before Johnson was back before the courts, jailed in 2007 for one year and 9 months for possession of equipment to manufacture methamphetamine.
The following year, the now 42-year-old Johnson was convicted of conspiracy to manufacture and supply the Class A drug in a Nelson drug ring.
“You describe yourself as living ‘week by week’ and being ‘lost in a maze of meth’, and on a ‘downhill run’ at the time of your offending,” Justice Lynton Stevens told Johnson in 2008.
“You state that you are ‘appalled with the whole thing’. And so you should be, because this is a nefarious drug, the effects of which are pernicious, not just for you, but for the whole of society.”
Justice Stevens said he would give Johnson “one last chance” on account of his early guilty pleas, and attempts to turn his life around, and so gave a generous sentence of two years 10 months.
Just four years later, Johnson was arrested for running a laboratory making a different sort of drug altogether, gamma-butyrolactone or GBL.
Better known as fantasy, the Class-B drug is popular in the UK nightclub scene where GBL had a more sinister nickname - “coma in a bottle” - as a so-called date rape drug.
Due to its liquid form, GBL can easily be slipped into someone’s drink to make them an easier, stupefied target for sexual assault.
The 47-year-old Johnson was convicted of making GBL and sent to prison yet again, this time for four years and three months.
He was released by the Parole Board in 2015 and the three-person panel urged Johnson to “use the intelligence he undoubtedly has”.
With dual British citizenship, Johnson told the Parole Board he wanted to complete a fluid engineering course in the UK in order to become a “mud doctor” in the drilling industry.
Johnson was “determined to not return to prison”, noted the Parole Board, but five years later was arrested in the undercover DEA sting in Romania.
While his whereabouts is currently unknown, the DEA has had more success in tracking down Miles John McKelvy, a convicted fraudster and drug importer living in Auckland, for his alleged role in the drug conspiracy.
The Court of Appeal recently ruled that McKelvy should be extradited to Texas to stand trial, although his defence lawyers have indicated they will seek a final hearing in the Supreme Court.
In communications with the undercover DEA agent, McKelvy allegedly confirmed his identity and his role within the tight-knit group, alongside Matthews and Johnson, which was to help arrange transport documents and receive the cocaine when it arrived in NZ.
At one point the undercover agent asked McKelvy directly if he was aware the plan involved importing 400kg of cocaine.
“Yes, I’m very clear but this will work if we get the paperwork bang on,” McKelvy allegedly replied, claiming that he had “brought in lots” of drugs to NZ in the past.
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.