August 31, 2024 • 9 mins
There's been praise directed at police across the nation after two recent high-profile victories over the gangs.
Christchurch authorities arrested every patched Comanchero member in the area in an investigation dubbed 'Operation Avon' - seizing millions of dollars worth of illicit drugs.
Meanwhile, a 10-year investigation into Head Hunters leader Wayne Doyle resulted in authorities seizing $15 million in gang assets, including cash and properties.
Crime reporter and author Jared Savage says these arrests will make it harder for gangs to carry out operations.
"It's going to make life pretty difficult for them to operate, to move around, to have police knocking on the door for bail checks and so fourth."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talksb Right.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Two significant wins this week by police and their operations
against gangs. Operation Avon saw every patched member of the
christ Church Common Chero's chapter arrested following the eight month
investigation into alleged drug deals, while a tenure investigation into
Headhunter's leader Warren Doyle resulted in a High Court ruling
he must pay fourteen point eight million dollars in profits
(00:33):
from drugs and violence. To discuss these implications or the
implications of these I'm joined by New Zealand Herald organized
crime investigative journalist and author Jared Savage.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Good morning, Jared Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
How significant were the arrests this week with the Common Cero's.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, it's a pretty big one.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Like you know, the Common Seros have really upended the
criminal hierarchy here in New Zealand over the last of
five years. They are a group which the PLA relentlessly targeted.
This would be Operation av On. Earlier this week they
police arrested every single member of the chapter that had
(01:16):
established itself here in christ Church, you know about a
year ago and.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It's just to me.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
It to me, it indicates the threat that the police
see that the commentario's pose to the country.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Is it a big disruption for them? Does it dilute
their power at all in New Zealand?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, Well, what it's going to do is, you know,
it's gonna because they've arrested every single one of them
down here. I don't know what exactly how many have
received bail or not, but what it does do is
it's going to make life pretty difficult for them to operate,
to move around, you know, to have police knocking on
the door for bail checks and so forth. It is
(01:56):
going to disrupt them here in christ christ Church is
a is you know, obviously the biggest sort of sitting
in the South Island. South Island drug prices are higher
than than you know, the rest of the country. Basically,
drug prices get more expensive the further south you go
down to New Zealand. So that's why gangs like the
Common Scheeros have moved into places like christ Church in
(02:17):
the last sort of five years. Will you know, these
arrests will slow them down here, other gangs or groups
will move into that vacuum.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
That's what tends to happen. So it's not like everyone
can relax.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now, Okay, look, this is just one of many organized
crime investigations targeting the common cheros. Why the focus on.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Them, Yeah, it's because they when they came here about
in New Zealand sort of you know, twenty eighteen, they
have their first chapter, sort of set up a bit
a story about it, and immediately I do a lot
of these kinds of stories. But immediately when these guys
come along, they looked different, they were acting different, they
(03:02):
were posting photographs of themselves on social media. Yet we
are here now they're they're an Australian group, but they
have connections around the world, and from very early on,
you know, law enforcement here and overseas were like, you know,
they've got true organized crime connections. So they they've got
(03:23):
they can tap it into, you know, sources of large
amounts of drugs from from overseas. They had some more
sophisticated ways of operading than we might have seen from
our organized crime groups here previously. The use of you know,
back then, the use of encrypto devices and so on
was relatively new, and they also brought like a bit
of a sort of brazen, sort of almost like fearless
(03:47):
kind of attitude to New Zealand. They were they were
a very small group when they arrived here and they
still are relatively smaller number, but they were just they
were not afraid of ruffling feathers, sort of upsetting the
apple cart with other gangs here and basically not playing nicely.
And from that point on the police have really gone
out after them. By the Operation Avon, this would be
(04:09):
at least the tenth sort of COVID investigation that I
can recount into the common Sharos, and they've really gone
after their members, and they've really gone after their sort
of assets that have been accumulated as well. So it's
it's definitely been a focus on one particular group that
(04:29):
I haven't seen from the police for about ten years
when they were going after some of the very senior
headhunters up in Auckland. So yeah, it'll be of course
that does what I guess what does come to mind
sometimes is like we're focusing so much in this particular group,
does that mean that others are going under the radar?
But the police can really kind of only go off
(04:50):
the risk that's in front of them, so Yeah, that's
what we've seen.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We also saw a ruling against Warren Doyle this week
from the Headhunters. He must pay fourteen point eight million
from the profits that he's made from dealing drugs and
violence and things. How significant is that ruling? I mean
that one we're just talking about the eight months investigation.
This has been ten years to get to this point.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, this is probably the most significant proceedings that the
police have taken under the law which allows them to
sort of restrain and seize assets. It's called the Criminal
Proceeds Recovery Act and it was brought in by Parliament
in two thousand and nine to essentially go after the
assets of gang leaders and organized crime figures who were
(05:34):
sort of quote unquote untouchable. And the law you don't
need a criminal conviction to secure the assets. You just
the police need to prove that the profits, the money,
the wealth, the assets were derived from criminal offending. And
so what's so significant about this case this week is
not only how complex and long it went for, but
(05:55):
the fact is Wayne Doyle, who is you know, one
of the senior leaders and the Headhunters, hasn't had a
criminal conviction for twenty years. He had some previous before that,
but for twenty years, you know, he hasn't been in
trouble with the law. But what the what the police
showed and the judge found was is that he was
a significant influential leader within the Headhunters, a number of
(06:18):
whom did rack up, you know, the quite serious criminal
convictions for drug dealing or or making money from taxing,
which is essentially stand over kind of tactics. And the
money was coming into the gang via a charitable trust
that they had set up and that was how it
was sort of, that was how it was laundered.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So it was a very complex case.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
The seat. You know, essentially the gang is going to
lose their pad in two three two Road as a
result of this.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
It's essentially their sort of you know, it's their.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Power base, their stronghold, their spiritual home, and so that's
going to end up getting forfeited. And it would be
fascinatingously what the Crown ended up doing with the property,
because I can't imagine anyone's going to want to live
there or you know, run a business from there. So
that'll be the next battle. I mean, this, this decision
(07:09):
will get appealed. The lawyers wire to signal that. But
you know, I think it's probably the beginning of the
end of that particular chapter and taking their assets will
be something that the police.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Are stoked about. From the ones that I've spoken to,
so very significant case.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Jared just finally, you know, National has said they're going
to be tough on crime and gangs. That's the approach
they're taking. I don't know how much we can you know,
we've seen a lot of actually charges around drugs and
meths and things with King Copra's and How's angels this
week as well. How much of what we're seeing happening
now can we attribute to their attitude or you know,
(07:48):
I don't know if we can at all. But do
you see even more action coming what?
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I don't think we can attribute anything that we've seen
this week to the current government. There's have been long
term kind of cases that have happened under previous successive governments.
I mean, the dual case took so long, probably gone
through two or three different government.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So I don't think we can attribute that to what's happened.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I think what in terms of the government, the National
lead government coming in and wanting to charge quote unquote
to the anti gang laws. I think when that legislation
has passed shortly and then essentially comes into power sort
of later this year, we're going to see potentially quite
a bit of conflict between the police and gangs, particularly
(08:32):
around the patch Ben.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
That that could lead to some quite heated of confrontations.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
And you know, and the police are gonna, you know,
they're gonna this isn't these laws aren't going to solve
the gang problem. They are going to give the police
another tool to sort of, you know, to get in
there and make life difficult for them.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And so yeah, we could see some quite heated stuff
later this year or early next year.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Is the police kind of slowly work out how they're
going to implement the law. So I think maybe in
twelve months time, I'll be able to give a more
definitive answer to the question.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Jared Savage, thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Appreciate it, no pleasure.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Thank you for more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin.
Listen live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talksb Right.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Two significant wins this week by police and their operations
against gangs. Operation Avon saw every patched member of the
christ Church Common Chero's chapter arrested following the eight month
investigation into alleged drug deals, while a tenure investigation into
Headhunter's leader Warren Doyle resulted in a High Court ruling
he must pay fourteen point eight million dollars in profits
(00:33):
from drugs and violence. To discuss these implications or the
implications of these I'm joined by New Zealand Herald organized
crime investigative journalist and author Jared Savage.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Good morning, Jared Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
How significant were the arrests this week with the Common Cero's.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, it's a pretty big one.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Like you know, the Common Seros have really upended the
criminal hierarchy here in New Zealand over the last of
five years. They are a group which the PLA relentlessly targeted.
This would be Operation av On. Earlier this week they
police arrested every single member of the chapter that had
(01:16):
established itself here in christ Church, you know about a
year ago and.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It's just to me.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
It to me, it indicates the threat that the police
see that the commentario's pose to the country.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Is it a big disruption for them? Does it dilute
their power at all in New Zealand?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, Well, what it's going to do is, you know,
it's gonna because they've arrested every single one of them
down here. I don't know what exactly how many have
received bail or not, but what it does do is
it's going to make life pretty difficult for them to operate,
to move around, you know, to have police knocking on
the door for bail checks and so forth. It is
(01:56):
going to disrupt them here in christ christ Church is
a is you know, obviously the biggest sort of sitting
in the South Island. South Island drug prices are higher
than than you know, the rest of the country. Basically,
drug prices get more expensive the further south you go
down to New Zealand. So that's why gangs like the
Common Scheeros have moved into places like christ Church in
(02:17):
the last sort of five years. Will you know, these
arrests will slow them down here, other gangs or groups
will move into that vacuum.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
That's what tends to happen. So it's not like everyone
can relax.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now, Okay, look, this is just one of many organized
crime investigations targeting the common cheros. Why the focus on.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Them, Yeah, it's because they when they came here about
in New Zealand sort of you know, twenty eighteen, they
have their first chapter, sort of set up a bit
a story about it, and immediately I do a lot
of these kinds of stories. But immediately when these guys
come along, they looked different, they were acting different, they
(03:02):
were posting photographs of themselves on social media. Yet we
are here now they're they're an Australian group, but they
have connections around the world, and from very early on,
you know, law enforcement here and overseas were like, you know,
they've got true organized crime connections. So they they've got
(03:23):
they can tap it into, you know, sources of large
amounts of drugs from from overseas. They had some more
sophisticated ways of operading than we might have seen from
our organized crime groups here previously. The use of you know,
back then, the use of encrypto devices and so on
was relatively new, and they also brought like a bit
of a sort of brazen, sort of almost like fearless
(03:47):
kind of attitude to New Zealand. They were they were
a very small group when they arrived here and they
still are relatively smaller number, but they were just they
were not afraid of ruffling feathers, sort of upsetting the
apple cart with other gangs here and basically not playing nicely.
And from that point on the police have really gone
out after them. By the Operation Avon, this would be
(04:09):
at least the tenth sort of COVID investigation that I
can recount into the common Sharos, and they've really gone
after their members, and they've really gone after their sort
of assets that have been accumulated as well. So it's
it's definitely been a focus on one particular group that
(04:29):
I haven't seen from the police for about ten years
when they were going after some of the very senior
headhunters up in Auckland. So yeah, it'll be of course
that does what I guess what does come to mind
sometimes is like we're focusing so much in this particular group,
does that mean that others are going under the radar?
But the police can really kind of only go off
(04:50):
the risk that's in front of them, so Yeah, that's
what we've seen.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We also saw a ruling against Warren Doyle this week
from the Headhunters. He must pay fourteen point eight million
from the profits that he's made from dealing drugs and
violence and things. How significant is that ruling? I mean
that one we're just talking about the eight months investigation.
This has been ten years to get to this point.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, this is probably the most significant proceedings that the
police have taken under the law which allows them to
sort of restrain and seize assets. It's called the Criminal
Proceeds Recovery Act and it was brought in by Parliament
in two thousand and nine to essentially go after the
assets of gang leaders and organized crime figures who were
(05:34):
sort of quote unquote untouchable. And the law you don't
need a criminal conviction to secure the assets. You just
the police need to prove that the profits, the money,
the wealth, the assets were derived from criminal offending. And
so what's so significant about this case this week is
not only how complex and long it went for, but
(05:55):
the fact is Wayne Doyle, who is you know, one
of the senior leaders and the Headhunters, hasn't had a
criminal conviction for twenty years. He had some previous before that,
but for twenty years, you know, he hasn't been in
trouble with the law. But what the what the police
showed and the judge found was is that he was
a significant influential leader within the Headhunters, a number of
(06:18):
whom did rack up, you know, the quite serious criminal
convictions for drug dealing or or making money from taxing,
which is essentially stand over kind of tactics. And the
money was coming into the gang via a charitable trust
that they had set up and that was how it
was sort of, that was how it was laundered.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So it was a very complex case.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
The seat. You know, essentially the gang is going to
lose their pad in two three two Road as a
result of this.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
It's essentially their sort of you know, it's their.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Power base, their stronghold, their spiritual home, and so that's
going to end up getting forfeited. And it would be
fascinatingously what the Crown ended up doing with the property,
because I can't imagine anyone's going to want to live
there or you know, run a business from there. So
that'll be the next battle. I mean, this, this decision
(07:09):
will get appealed. The lawyers wire to signal that. But
you know, I think it's probably the beginning of the
end of that particular chapter and taking their assets will
be something that the police.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Are stoked about. From the ones that I've spoken to,
so very significant case.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Jared just finally, you know, National has said they're going
to be tough on crime and gangs. That's the approach
they're taking. I don't know how much we can you know,
we've seen a lot of actually charges around drugs and
meths and things with King Copra's and How's angels this
week as well. How much of what we're seeing happening
now can we attribute to their attitude or you know,
(07:48):
I don't know if we can at all. But do
you see even more action coming what?
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I don't think we can attribute anything that we've seen
this week to the current government. There's have been long
term kind of cases that have happened under previous successive governments.
I mean, the dual case took so long, probably gone
through two or three different government.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So I don't think we can attribute that to what's happened.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I think what in terms of the government, the National
lead government coming in and wanting to charge quote unquote
to the anti gang laws. I think when that legislation
has passed shortly and then essentially comes into power sort
of later this year, we're going to see potentially quite
a bit of conflict between the police and gangs, particularly
(08:32):
around the patch Ben.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
That that could lead to some quite heated of confrontations.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
And you know, and the police are gonna, you know,
they're gonna this isn't these laws aren't going to solve
the gang problem. They are going to give the police
another tool to sort of, you know, to get in
there and make life difficult for them.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And so yeah, we could see some quite heated stuff
later this year or early next year.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Is the police kind of slowly work out how they're
going to implement the law. So I think maybe in
twelve months time, I'll be able to give a more
definitive answer to the question.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Jared Savage, thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Appreciate it, no pleasure.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Thank you for more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin.
Listen live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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