Some New Zealand politicians want to crack down on gangs. That’s no way to solve the problem
Gangs flourish when the state fails its citizens. Banning colours and getting ‘tough on crime’ won’t fix anything
The US has its mafia. Australia has its bikies. New Zealand, a country often understood as more innocent than its larger, more dangerous English-speaking partners, has its street gangs.
Members of the Mongrel Mob, New Zealand’s largest gang, are a familiar part of most provincial towns and cities in the North Island. Tourists who arrive in Rotorua might find it strange to spot Mob men, wrapped in black leather with bulldogs inked across their faces. But locals would hardly register a gang member.