A carload of patched Mongrel Mob gang members are not your usual guests, but the owner of a Rotorua motel was more than happy to have them stay.
But the visiting mobsters, in Rotorua for a farewell road trip for the late Notorious Mongrel Mob member James "Triple M" Ford, must have found other lodgings.
The Lighthouse Motel owner, who doesn't want to be named, admitted it was a bit nerve-wracking having the gang members drive up to her Te Ngae property on Monday night.
"I heard the boom, boom, boom of their car pull up and went out to have a look. It was really dark outside. I gave them the price and they said 'thank you very much miss' and drove off."
It was an eventful night in the Te Ngae area as police beefed up their presence as the gang members stayed at a fellow gang member's house on Te Ngae Rd.
The motel owner said she could see a team of about 15 police officers stopping cars near the truck weigh bridge.
"They were stopping all the rough looking cars and even had cones up like a drink driving road block. I thought they must have done something."
However, Senior Sergeant Dennis Murphy of the Rotorua police said there no reports of any problems as a result of the gang being in the city. While the motel owner thought the gang members inquiring at her motel were "nice enough boys", she thought it was a joke the gang was taking the body around the North Island on a road trip.
"Give me a break. It's as if they're saying 'look at me, I'm a nice guy'."
The crowd of mobsters left Rotorua yesterday. The road trip has seen the gang visit fellow chapter members, graveyards and prisons around the North Island. Mongrel Mob Rogue Chapter president James "Triple M" Ford, nicknamed Littleman and originally known as James Waddell, had a long list of convictions, including manslaughter, and died of complications of diabetes on Wednesday, August 2. The road trip started in Auckland on Friday August 4, with the first stop being at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo. The entourage then went to Wanganui, Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke's Bay and the Bay of Plenty.
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