The peace walk was organised in response to escalating gang tensions in Palmerston North.

Davidson and Ngatai Te Moananui's paths converged at Legacy Church in Palmerston North, a place they credit for their transformation.

"It was the most profound experience I've ever had.

"I felt truly accepted like I was part of a family," said Ngatai Te Moananui.

Davidson, who underwent baptism at the church half a year ago, remarked "the past 18 and a half months have been the most fulfilling and joyous period of my life."

He left the notorious Mongrel Mob gang in the nineties. He is urging gang leaders, law enforcement and the broader community to collaborate on finding solutions.

"People need to be [held] accountable.

"They're walking around with blood on their hands.

"There are families mourning loved ones lost to this reckless behaviour.

"It needs to stop," Jason Hina, said.

Hina spent significant portions of his life incarcerated

He is voicing his concerns over the recent surge in hostilities between rival gangs and is attributing his newfound direction to his faith and church community.

His plea coincides with a peace walk in Palmerston North where hundreds, including former gang members, marched for unity.

Moved by the peace walk, Hina said "Seeing two former gang members walk in unity with their community, promoting love, peace and harmony, is a vision I hope continues."

The city's police force is currently managing three separate homicide cases, all while striving to maintain peace between the feuding factions.

Manawatu area commander Inspector Ross Grantham is hopeful of initiating a de-escalation process.

"I'm confident we're nearing a solution. We just need a suitable venue for discussions." Grantham believes the gangs themselves are keen on a resolution. "No one wants to witness their friends or family suffer. They're as eager for a resolution as we are."

Inspector Grantham is presently overseeing three separate homicide investigations that began in May of this year.

Source

• One News
• CathNews

The programme has had some success helping hard men to turn their lives around.

Here are two examples that have recently received publicity.

Paris Winiata was a drug dealer but, after joining Destiny, he stopped taking drugs and has been alcohol-free for a decade.

Toko Kopu has traded in life in one of New Zealand's most feared gangs to help young men become better fathers.

Paris Winiata

Paris Winiata had a troubled family background but, as a teenager, he was a star in the St Bernard's College first XV.

When he was 17, he was offered a development contract by the Melbourne Storm. But things did not work out.

Returning to New Zealand, he moved in with a couple of older friends and began selling drugs.

He had a brush with the law and received diversion.

"It was what really woke me up and made me realise that it was not the life I wanted to lead."

At the suggestion of a friend he went to a service at the local Destiny Church.

And, after joining Destiny, he stopped taking drugs and has been alcohol-free.

Winiata is heavily involved Man Up.

Toki Kopu

Toki Kopu is one of several former gang members to join Man Up.

He was heavily into using methamphetamine and selling it.

Kopu ended up in prison but, while there as a chapter leader, he devoted himself to "keeping the peace", earning respect for helping families visit prisoners.

When he got out of prison he was ready to do something good.

"If I didn't want to change I wouldn't have stood up."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

It was the same concern for social justice that had his brother, Laurie, who died nearly 20 years ago, becoming a lawyer and then the Commissioner for Children.

Each of the boys had many other strings to their bows. Laurie, for instance, was a significant figure in the development of women's rugby.

But, in this discussion with Dale, Denis traces some of the moves he's made in the course of a lifetime of fighting for the underdog.

Kia ora, Denis. I feel privileged to interview you because you're a larger than life character who's been leading an influential life, especially in social justice issues for Maori. But the O'Reilly whakapapa reaches way beyond Aotearoa, doesn't it?

That's true. The O'Reillys came from County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland, although we were originally from Brefni in Northern Ireland.

My people came out here on the Otaki and landed at Lyttleton on 8 February 1875.

They were described in the Lyttleton Times as being "a thoroughly useful class of people".

I'd like to think I've fulfilled that early promise.

The whanau went down through mid-Canterbury and my family eventually settled near Fairlie in the MacKenzie Country, not far from what is now Lake Opuha.

Mum's side were more of Scots stock.

My grandfather William Wallace Hooper got gassed in the First World War and he died early on. He's buried in Timaru.

So Mum, Patrica Hooper, was brought up pretty much by my grandmother Ellen Hooper. Mum was a very, very intelligent woman and was educated in French by the Sacre Coeur nuns in Timaru.

My old man, another Denis, generally called Dinny, came down to Timaru as a mechanic just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

He and his brother, Bob, met my mother and her sister Dot — and the two brothers married the two sisters.

We grew up in an Irish-Catholic household.

I'm the youngest of six by some years.

We had a service station called Cassidy's Motors and we were sort of upwardly mobile Irish-Catholics.

All the brothers and sisters did university and that sort of stuff, and I helped Dad.

From 13 or so, I worked with the old man at the service station. After school and in the weekends and school holidays.

When Dad had a slipped disc and a stroke, Mum and I basically ran the garage. We had eight adult mechanics working for us.

It was a seven-day affair and we were pumping half a million gallons of petrol a year in the 1960s. So it was pretty full on.

I went to St Pat's in Timaru, which is now called Roncalli College.

When I left school, I trained to be a Catholic priest up at the Mission, the Marist Fathers' seminary, at Greenmeadows in Napier.

It was a significant part of my personal development, to say nothing of my love of wine.

I see that you spent a year there. But then, in an interesting twist of fate, you ended up in Wellington with Black Power. You're still well known for that connection. You've been a patched member. How did that come about?

Well, I'm a life member.

I saw that work as a continuation of what I was aspiring to do — basically trying to be a priest.

We'd been brought up with Latin-American liberation theology.

Social justice I suppose you'd call it.

Paulo Friere and all that sort of stuff. And I just saw these Maori guys being picked on.

I got a job at a gas station in Newtown and I met all these Black Power fullas who worked for a concrete company called Riteways.

They used to drink at the Tramways and I suppose that's where the Catholic social justice thing kicked in.

I thought: "Well, this is what I'm meant to do." And that's pretty much what I've done.

Were there some negative reactions to you sidling up to, and then joining, the Black Power movement?

I don't think my folks knew what the hell it was all about.

Mum and Dad had never been on a marae until they came to our wedding, when Taape and I got married.

There were about 300-400 Black Power there. So were Bob Jones and Tim Shadbolt and Pat Rippin and even Brian Edwards.

Then the Mongrel Mob arrived as well.

It was culture shock plus.

But we had a Catholic nuptial mass on the marae and, with that anchor, they just rolled with it. Continue reading

• Image: E-Tangata

In a post on Facebook, the former Mob member and a friend are seen talking to the camera telling viewers it is "time to make changes" and "get rid of the old and take on the new". Continue reading

The trailer for Broken, a tale of vengeance which claims to be "based on a true story", debuted on Friday afternoon and quickly went viral, racking up 850,000 views over the weekend.

It is written and directed by first-time filmmaker and City Impact Church pastor Tarry Mortlock, who shot the film over five weeks in Gisborne earlier this year. Have a look at trailer and read more

Mongrel Mob member Harry Tam has held eight similar hui across the island.

Tam, a former policy analyst, had been involved with the Mongrel Mob since his teens.

He worked alongside four other social workers with gang connections to initiate change within gangs.

"We didn't come together because of the gangs, we came together because we're all parents. Regardless of your affiliation, you're still a parent."

At each hui, Tam tries to get health and social agencies to come along.

"A lot of our people don't live in good homes. It's cold and damp homes. They don't have good information," Tam said.

At Wainuiomata Marae about 100 people attended a hui.

It was run by the organisation E Tu Whanau, which works with communities that government agencies often do not engage with.

A member of the Mongrel Mob in Murupara, Tau Kopu-Edwards, said he had heard about the hui and brought his family along.

"We need to make the change for the better, the better for my kids or the other gangs' kids.

"It doesn't matter what gang you belong to, it has to benefit them.

"It's not only through gangs, it's through our whole community. So, everyone's on board.

"If they can see what we're doing then everyone else will jump on board"

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: rnz/Aaron Smale

"Maybe when people see a patched gang member like myself doing this kind of thing in the community, they might change their perceptions," said Te Kaipo Ahuriri, Tuhoe.

A Facebook video has reached more than 255,000 views after he and his family spent the weekend tracking down and feeding the homeless.

Ahuriri's childhood friend of 38 years was found dead in Rotorua last year after living on the street for some time.

"He was like a brother to me . . . if I had've known he was living like that, we would've taken him in."

Ahuriri said seeing people living rough was heartbreaking, and he knew what that felt like.

"I was adopted out as a child and raised by a Pakeha family. I've always felt homeless myself so I know what it feels like not to have a home or know where you belong.

Ahuriri acknowledged some of those begging on the streets were using it as a way of getting drugs and alcohol.

But said the people they were engaging with were in genuine need.

"The first thing is to feed them and house them. Then we need to go back and look at the issues they are dealing with."

Since the post was shared, thousands had offered their support with videos of others doing similar acts flooding in.

"We didn't expect this at all; we've had a thousand private messages," Mrs Ahuriri said. "We had a reporter from Taiwan on the phone this morning."

"We've been overwhelmed by it all. We've had so many people send us messages of thanks and make financial contributions."

Supportive words have crossed the oceans, from people in Australia, England, France, Italy and Mexico.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• maoritelevision.com
• Image: stuff.co.nz

What may be more of an eye opener is that a local gang is doing the same thing.

The Tribal Huks is a gang from from Ngaruawahia.

Dubbed the 'sandwich gang', their president Jamie Pink says they fill a social need that wasn't being catered for adequately.

They have been feeding hungry kids in 31 Waikato schools for four years.

Now a gang wants to provide nourishment for kids in need across the country.

"Over 400 we reach a day; not enough ... There are so many hungry kids in the country, on a huge scale, and it isn't getting any better," said Pink.

Last week Pink and the gang started Kai 4 the future foundation and have kick-started it with a sum of $20,000.

The foundation is set up to collect money to purchase food for hungry children across the country.

The $20,000 foundation kickstart from the gang came from a membership tithing of a "few hundred."

Pink guarantees the money was made and given legitimately.

"We put the hat around, we've been saving for a little bit for this."

"When you have that many members you can get that money together."

Pink says there is about 300 members and associates of the huks.

He says knows the stigma that comes with being in a gang but wants the foundation to work.

For transparency and legitimacy he has brought on board "good people" to be signatories for the foundation's accounts.

"Some are community leaders, some run community houses; all these people are good people."

"The money isn't going through the gang and we can show that."

Ngaruawahia Community House manager Anne Ramsay is one of those that has been elected as a signatory.

Ramsay says that although she has apprehensions about Pink's gang ties- his heart and his commitment to the children are true.

"I really support the work that they do," Ramsay said.

"I probably have a few concerns around the perception of his gang involvement and hopefully that won't cloud people's thinking about it."

The plan is to set up a proper trust and continue to provide sandwiches in schools, as he has been doing already, and extend that to more schools."

The gang have been offered a lot of money since the Waikato Times broke the story of their good deeds in October 2014, but they have refused it.

"A lot of people have tried to give money online and personally too, but we've said no. We've taken food though and we always said we'd take food and give it to the kids."

"But here's a way they can give money and know that it's going to be watched over by the good people to feed the kids."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

Gang members threatened to throw Ángel Ariel Escalante Pérez off a bridge if he did not murder the driver last month.

Angel said no and was thrown off the Belice Bridge in Guatemala City, falling 400 feet.

Branches and undergrowth cushioned his fall.

A picture of Angel being embraced by his father after being found was posted on social media.

After 15 days in intensive care, Angel died at the Saint John of God General Hospital.

The boy was in the 6th grade at Carlos Benjamín Paíz Ayala School, located near where he was thrown off the bridge.

He liked drawing, music and soccer.

Continue reading

That a blue-eyed, pink-skinned, blonde MP, Todd McClay, tagging along after ex-Whanganui mayor Michael Laws, wants gang patches banned, illustrates the ignorance of even intelligent people when they demand draconian laws against whatever they dislike or don't understand.

I don't like what gangs do either, but I'd be tempted to join Harawira and wear a patch myself in protest against such a dopey idea if the law change ever happens. And when I link McClay's mission to advertising man John Ansell, another pink person, who wants a referendum linked to his 'Colour Blind' campaign, I wonder what planet they live on. Read more

Sources

• Rosemary McLeod in The Press
• Image: TV3News

Manu's arms, legs and torso are covered with tattoos. There is the name of his mother on his wrist, another stresses the importance of putting family first, and on his upper left arm he has a depiction of the family's favourite passage from the Bible, Philippians chapter four, verse six, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

"It just means for all your problems, you pray to God and ask him to help you through the tough times and he'll get you through it," says Manu.

"I grew up going to church each Sunday and it's a massive part of my life. I feel really blessed to be in this position … I'm really close to my family. They're always going to be there for me and a big part of my life."

Source

• The Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: The Age