The main convoy of Tribesmen MC members is stopped at a Police drink driving and licensing checkpoint. Video / NZ Herald
The president of the Tribesmen motorcycle gang, who was shot earlier this week, has been discharged from hospital and is among the hundreds of other members gathering at an Auckland vineyard today for the gang’s 40th anniversary party.
Dion “Buzz” Snell was shot outside the main shopping area in Ōtaraon Monday evening, as fans celebrated Samoa’s 20-18 victory over Tonga in the Rugby League World Cup.
A talented league player himself, Snell was taken to Middlemore Hospital with what police described as critical injuries. The Herald understands he was shot in the stomach.
There were initial fears the shooting could break the truce between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez. The rival gangs were involved in a tit-for-tat war earlier this year until a ceasefire was called to halt the string of drive-by shootings and suspicious fires.
But the Herald understands the Killer Beez are no longer suspected of being involved in the shooting of Snell.
He has not co-operated with the police investigation and has been discharged from hospital in order to take part in the celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the Tribesmen’s Ōtara chapter.
More than 100 patched members and prospects were expected to ride their motorcycles across Auckland, in a gang run which ended at the Allely Estate vineyard in Kumeū.
Tribesmen members waiting at a police checkpoint in Kumeū. Photo / NZME
The first convoy of Tribesmen members arrive at a Kumeū vineyard for the gang's 40th anniversary celebrations. Photo / NZME
Police speak to a member of the Tribesmen at a checkpoint in Kumeū ahead of the gang's 40th anniversary. Photo / NZME
Dozens of police officers, including detectives and members of the dog section, were out in force on the roads around the rural west Auckland township in anticipation of large numbers of Tribesmen arriving to the area.
The first convoy of dozens of gang members arrived at the vineyard just after midday and were stopped at a checkpoint where police conducted drink-driving tests and inspected the motorcycles.
Court bailiffs were also at the checkpoint, and one patched member was taken into custody shortly after arriving.
Inspector Matt Laurenson said police were closely monitoring the gang event in Kumeū.
“There is a visible presence of police staff around the area as we anticipate there will be a large number of vehicles travelling to this event,” said Laurenson.
“Our focus is to disrupt any unlawful activity or wider harm on the road, with the event expected to run late into the evening.”
Laurenson said the police would have “zero tolerance for anti-social, dangerous, or intimidating behaviour” on the roads and encouraged members of the public to report any incidents.
The Tribesmen formed in Murupara in 1980 then started other chapters in Ōtara and Northland, before heading south more recently to establish a presence in Christchurch.
A number of patched members have been convicted of serious drug and violence offences, including murder, and the Tribesmen have been at the centre of a high-profile gang war with the Killer Beez earlier this year.
The gangs were once closely aligned with the Killer Beez, more of a youth street gang in the mid-2000s, acting as a feeder group to the Tribesmen, a more traditional motorcycle club.
The gangs were so intertwined that president of the Killer Beez, Josh Masters, was also a patched Tribesmen member.
He was arrested in 2008 on methamphetamine and money-laundering charges, for which he was later convicted and received a sentence of 10 years and five months in prison.
In Masters’ absence from Ōtara, many of the original Killer Beez graduated to the colours of the Tribesmen and re-established the gang’s dominance in their old stomping ground.
His homecoming was met with resistance from his former friends, and tensions flared with a number of shootings as Masters reasserted the Killer Beez as a fully fledged motorcycle club with distinctive white patches.
Everything came to a head in April 2019, when a senior Tribesmen member shot Masters inside the Harley Davidson dealership in Mt Wellington.
The man who pulled the trigger was Okusitino Tae, one of Masters’ closest friends growing up, and a former Killer Beez soldier.
He handed himself in and was jailed for seven years. Masters got a life sentence - the president of the Killer Beez is paralysed from the waist down from his injuries.
Despite his physical limitations, Masters is clearly in charge of the Killer Beez and was most recently seen riding a quad bike in a convoy as part of the gang’s recent annual conference.
After several years of relative peace, it’s understood tensions flared again in March this year when the Tribesmen held a patching ceremony for new members in Papatoetoe.
Later that evening, Killer Beez fired at the address where the Tribesmen were celebrating.
While no one was hurt, this show of aggression set the scene for what followed.
So when some Killer Beez fell off their motorcycles on the Southern Motorway during the gang’s conference in April, a video clip of the embarrassing crash was shared widely on social media by mocking Tribesmen.
The online humiliation inflamed the rivalry to the point where a senior member of the Killer Beez turned up at a rugby league practice with a firearm to threaten a senior Tribesmen.
The confrontation never took place. But the aggressive move was the catalyst for the five drive-by shootings over one weekend in late May, which spiralled over the next three weeks until the truce was called.
In a show of unity last month, members of both gathered together to pay their respects to one of the founding fathers of the Tribesmen, “Oldman” Roy Katene, who passed away.
