By Six

Some names, events and facts have been altered, exaggerated or embellished to protect the identities of the deviant.

You will know it is time to turn the page, when Tinkerbell ringes her little bells. Let’s begin now.

Kate Bush might’ve been ‘Running Up That Hill’, Bjork might’ve been crooning, or Placebo might’ve been friends indeed, all that’s for certain is that Nana was deejay, Angel was ‘laxing, and an awful Auckland evening kept all indoors.

“What’s it mean to you to have a Patch bro?”, enquires I to Angel, cracking open a Steinlager.

“It gives you power of rights,” says Angel in the same humble tone he speaks with whether he’s ordering a beer or bovering a bruva.

“What do you mean.”

“Yeah, exactly – power of rights.”

Angel measures his words. “Once you you become patch status you’re pretty much equal to every other patch status [member] throughout the country.”

“And whats that?”

“Anything you want bro. Invitations to parties, invitations to womyn…”

It was starting to sound more interesting by the minute when Nana interjects.

“Do they treat the womyn ok,?” asks Nana empathetically.

“Yeah Bro,” Angel pauses… “Back in the 80s it was a whole lot different. Now its… its… respect. I know how it is with others. You know what I mean? Like… womyn are pretty much… protocol.”

“They deserve respect,” Nana suitably sumises.

“On a cultural perspective they do need respect. On a Mob level… then it comes back to the Chapter. Our chapter we respect our womyn and our kids.”

“Do all Chapters?” Nana pursues.

“Nah. No. No. No. We do that personally because our Chapter’s culturally sensitive to womyn and children.
It means that… It means that… You know if you’re not patched then you belong to pretty much everyone below patch members. Slave care.”

“Basically it’s a tribe eh,” I offer.

“It is a tribe, but it’s pretty much more complicated than that. Now. Fuck. Bro. Its about power. The power that you can get from being a patch member is awesome bro. How you use it to benefit you in life is another thing. To have a patch can open up a lot of doors to anything across the board. Its like a network. The mobs one big network. Once you’ve got a patch, it gives you access… Access to anything. A Class. Anything. “

“Say you wanted right now a Harley Davidson, $1000 cash and two whores…?”

Angel leans back on Nana’s doube bed and chuckles. “You can get two whores. Ah… Harley Davidson might take a bit of thinking about… What else..?”

“A thousand dollars cash,” I remind him.

“Yeah.” Angel postulates. “That’s where it comes back down to ah… hooking up with the right people. Hooking up with the right Mob members.”

“So it might take like 24-hours?”

“Yeah. Exactly. But it’s still gonna happen. Not quick snap – but - it will happen. Once you’ve been a member of the Mob it’s one big network. Some Chapters actually have other groups. Like Filthy Few. We’ve got Filthy Few in our clubs. We got Filthy Few working with us. We’ve got Greasy Dogs Motorcycle Club working with us…”

“Who are they?”

“They’re in Tauranga, Mt Maunganui. And a few chapters. We opened up our doors to all the motorcycle clubs around New Zealand and that’s just started a huge network.”

“So where does the money come from?”

“What money?”

Angel’s tone suggests I am venturing into sensitive territory. “Well it’s like an organisation> You’ve got people in homes. What’s it all for? What’s the point of it all?”

Angel relaxes. “It’s family orientation. Basically its about family orientation.”

“Its about belonging to something,” I summise.

“That’s how the papers like to put it Bro. The Mobs set up for family orientation. Its to look after each other.

Black Power and Mongrel Mob are totally different in their beliefs.”

This is worth pursuing. “Well how does that work. What does one believe that the other doesn’t. Is it like two different religions?”

“Nah, it’s not. Its because one wants to be bigger than the other. The country knows that the Mob’s the biggest gang in New Zealand. I tell you what bro. A lot of people that I know. These are respected peoples. Don’t know what I am.”

“What are you?”

“A person that does what everybody else does every day.”

Sounds like the piss talking. “So what’s the path to becoming a patch member?”

“Bro. I tell you what. During the… When I was going through it bro it meant taking out your rivals and your rivals are pretty much everybody. In my era you were taught pretty much that… pretty much that everybody was your enemy. Every gang was your enemy. Everyone outside the Mongrel Mob was your enemy. Regardless of whether or not they be a biker, black power that’s how you were taught back in the 80’s. That’s when I was prospecting. I was when I was about 16.”

“As a prospect are you like an apprentice to a patch member?”

“Yeah that’s all you are. That’s basically just taking on whatever he says sort of thing. Now, I went about things a bit differently when I was younger. I went out… When I was 16 I actually thought that prospecting was about doing things.”

“Like what?”

“I sort of bent the rules a little bit. I went out and started hitting Black Power members.”

“Hitting them?”

“Yeah.”

“Like punching them?”

“Nah, nah, nah… I was actually stabbing them. I made it a mission when I was younger to go out and hit, hit, hit, hit…”

“And you thought that would earn you respect in the gang?”

“I got respect. That’s what I thought was mad bro. My first week within the Mongrel Mob, I went out there and I almost killed a Black Power member.”

There’s a considerable pause while we digest this information.

The silence is broken. “What was life like before the Mob. What was life like when you were 13 or 14?, I ask.

“I was in minor street gangs. I thought I needed something a little bit bigger than where I was heading at the moment so I hooked up with Mongrel Mob and started prospecting.”

“How did you hook up?”

“Because the guys I was hanging with on the streets were pretty much close to ahem… both similarities… it wasn’t too hard bro. I tell you what cracked me up the most in those days. My first week within the mob, when I first started prospecting, I actually went out and did a hit on a Black Power member.”

Angel appears intent to visit this topic.

“A hit? A stabbing?” Why ask I think.

“Yeah. Yeah. We actually knew each other. We met in a shop and a scuffle broke out. I got him down on the ground. I had his head down and… I knew he had a knife tucked under his arm. Now I had mine stuck down my pants. I pulled out my knife out and stuck it right down the back of his head. He took the Bowie knife.”

“Did you kill him?” I need a cone.

“Nah bro, nah… put him in the Hospital. That was my first week bro. Once that happened bro because… This is it… I was living in a town that was Black Power run. Now, we’re only about eight patch members and about four prospects. When I done that, I actually though fuck… skiddaddle off down the road there and thought… fuck…. I’m gonna get whacked over for this eh bro. ‘Cause I done a hit without our seniors permission. Bro I went back and told the boys and they cheered me on. It was like that for several years bro. It was like that that a I got respect within the Nation.”

“Did you ever kill anybody?”

“I haven’t killed anybody yet. I haven’t killed anybody. Not yet.” Angel looks solemn. “The Mongrel Mob was actually started by Europeans in the Hawkes Bay. Yeah. They end up raping some chick. Now when they got to Court, the judge called them a pack of mongrels. Hence how they got their name. They pack raped a chick. The judge called them a pack of mongrels. This was in the 60’s bro.”

“Have you ever done a girl on a block?”

“Hell no. Mongrel Mob is just a name. But what happens in your own Chapter has its own rules – sort of thing. Now there’s other things that concern the Mongrel Mob . Those things have what is called - Presidents meeting - where all the presidents and the sarg’… Sargent of Arms… get together…”

“Who is the Sargent of Arms?”

“Sargent of Arms is usually your second in command. Usually a war strategist. He’s like your… When it comes to war… when they go into battle… he’s doing that.”

Angel continues. “The Mongrel Mob is just a name bro, you know what I mean. Every town’s got it’s own Chapter. Every Chapter got its own rules – sort of thing. If something stink is going to happen which concerns the Mob Nation then they get together at what they call a Presidents meeting. That’s where the Presidents throughout the country meet. Its usually only in a few places like Auckland, which has the national mob Pres’ or over on the Bay of Plenty ways where they have the Notorious president. To get into Notorious you have to go three, three minute rounds with three guys. In a ring. That’s what they call the circle of life. Anything goes its just that the guy up against the three can use his legs. The other three can use their hands. That’s your initiation.”