The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best premium stories of 2021. Today we take a look at Auckland's gang wars.
New police squad to target illegal firearms
When police officers raided the Auckland apartment of Shane Hannon they found 616 grams of freshly cooked methamphetamine, $176,000 cash and a loaded 9mm pistol by his bed.
A drug dealer's tools of the trade.
Once upon a time, finding such a criminal cocktail would have at least raisedthe eyebrows of frontline police. By March 2016, when Shane Hannon was arrested in Operation Turbo, it was a routine discovery to the point of mundane.
Drugs and guns now went hand-in-hand; common knowledge to police staff executing search warrants across the country each day, but largely hidden from a blissfully ignorant public.
The ease with which criminals are able to obtain firearms in New Zealand has been an ongoing issue for years, with the intensity of shootings between rival gangs escalating in 2021.
A cache of 14 firearms found in Operation Turbo led to MPs opening an inquiry into how firearms end up in criminal hands. Photo / Supplied
A tit-for-tat turf war
Not long after police launched the operation targeting heavy firepower in the hands of the gangs and organised criminals, Savage broke the news of a tit-for-tat turf war between the Mongols and the Head Hunter motorcycle gangs which culminated in a shooting in the lobby of the five-star Sofitel hotel.
In April the spiritual home of the Head Hunters was sprayed with semi-automatic gunfire in a brazen attack.
Evidence suggested around 30 rounds were fired at the gang pad and while no one was hurt, the shooting injured the pride of the Head Hunters, whose dominance in the criminal underworld has been threatened in recent years.
An armed police officer stands guard at the Sofitel after the shooting in the CBD linked to a feud between rival gangs the Head Hunters and Mongols. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Drive-by shootings and Molotov cocktails
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff likened the city to the "Wild West" but there was more to come, with brazen shootings and firebombings in a feud between the King Cobra and the Rebel gangs.
Months of tit-for-tat retaliation between the rival gangs saw cars, homes and businesses firebombed and riddled with semi-automatic gunfire.
The ongoing conflict between the King Cobras and the Rebels was ignited on social media late last year when a senior member of the Rebels staked a claim to Māngere, a suburb that the King Cobras consider to be their territory.
Around the same time, a King Cobra "patched over" - or switched allegiances - to the Rebels which is a rare move considered highly insulting in the criminal underworld where loyalty is highly valued.
