NCJ Number
174674
Journal
Transnational Organized Crime Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: Autumn 1997 Pages: 73-94
Date Published
1997
Length
22 pages
Annotation
After reviewing the nature and extent of organized crime in New Zealand, this paper considers control measures and the future of organized crime in that country.
Abstract
In New Zealand, the police definition of organized crime contains four elements: the criminal activity must be continuing; the activity must involve profit; the activity must involve a group of persons; and the activity must be accompanied by the use of fear and violence. When organized crime appeared in New Zealand in the 1970s, it was drug-related. Semi-organized groups had been importing marijuana from Southeast Asia since the early 1970s, but the most active organized criminal gang in the 1970s became known as the "Mr Asia" gang. This gang is significant because it represents the only time in New Zealand history that an organized criminal enterprise has operated on a major scale. Factors related to New Zealand's geographical and social context, however, frustrated that gang's attempts to control the country's drug trade for long. In 1981 a government Committee on Gangs reported that, according to police, there were at least 80 gangs or gang chapters in New Zealand, with approximately 2,300 members. By this time the modern gang profile had been established, with three types of gangs identified: outlaw motorcycle gangs, numbering 20 with 630 members; Maori and Polynesian ethnic gangs, with 57 chapters and 1,650 members; and an unknown number of white ethnic gangs. Throughout New Zealand, Asian criminal groups have become involved in organized burglary, shoplifting, and motor vehicle theft, as well as the fencing of stolen goods. Control measures have included the enactment of laws that target particular crimes committed by organized criminal groups and a systematic attempt to coordinate training and intelligence at a national level among agencies such as customs, immigration, Inland Revenue, security intelligence, and agriculture and fisheries. Since 1990 police estimates of gang membership in New Zealand have remained stable at about 5,500. The number of gangs identified has likewise remained constant at about 45. Unlike the gangs, police believe that in the future Asian criminal groups may become more visible in their activities. 60 footnotes