Mongrel Mob members and associates appear on the first day of a trial at the High Court in Christchurch last month. Seated from left: August Keefe, Peter Damian Gilbert and Jason Phillip Rewiti. Standing from left: Matthew James Rowe, Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, Matthew James Mulvey and Leon Delshannon Turner. Rowe was discharged during the trial. The others were all found guilty on charges relating to the kidnapping and bashing of rival Dawson Reihana last year.

The Mongrel Mob's Aotearoa chapter has a fearsome reputation. Could the bashing of a rival member be the end of a group with deep roots in the Christchurch underbelly? BLAIR ENSOR reports.

No-one is writing off the Mongrel Mob's "Aotearoa" chapter in Christchurch, despite it losing several key figures to prison for the second time in 15 years.

The gang's self-appointed president, its sergeant-at-arms and another long-time senior member are among those facing lengthy jail terms for the kidnapping and savage beating of a rival gang member in the city last year.

KIRK KARGREAVES/FAIRFAX NZ Police at a house in Bowenvale Ave, Christchurch, after Dawson Reihana was kidnapped and bashed last year.

While the loss of such key members would be a fatal blow to some organisations, prison seems to be a revolving door for the Mongrel Mob.

READ MORE: Mongrel Mob gang 'squabble' leads to likely lengthy prison terms

As Leon 'LT' Turner, Peter 'Dirty' Gilbert, Whata August Keefe and six others are locked away, Aotearoa's former president (many say he's still the boss) Joseph 'Junior' Wiringi is preparing to walk free in the middle of next year.

SUPPLIED Joseph 'Junior' Wiringi, centre, the former president of the Mongrel Mob's Aotearoa chapter, surrounded by other members of the gang.

Wiringi and most of the chapter's top hierarchy were arrested in 2003 as part of a police investigation dubbed Operation Crusade. It revealed brazen drug dealing from the gang's former headquarters on Wilsons Rd.

The latest group of Aotearoa members to be packed off to prison were involved in the kidnapping and bashing of Dawson Reihana, a member of the Mob's "Notorious" chapter in Christchurch.

In August last year, Reihana was tied up with duct tape and hit with hammers and knuckledusters, in a beating that took place at several properties and lasted 16 hours.

His cellphones were taken and used to send messages to his friends demanding money and drugs for his freedom. No ransom was paid.

Reihana eventually chewed through his restraints and called for help on a cellphone when a man left to guard him fell asleep.

He had suffered plenty of wounds, but the only broken bone was in his nose.

Last week, at the conclusion of a nine-day trial at the High Court in Christchurch, six members of the Aotearoa chapter, including Turner, Gilbert and Keefe, were found guilty on charges relating to the low-rent extortion attempt. Three others had already admitted their role in the gangland incident. They face lengthy stints behind bars.

The case was described in court as a "squabble between gangs".

Bad blood between the Aotearoa and Notorious chapters runs deep in Christchurch and Reihana's family is in the thick of it.

FACEBOOK Joseph 'Junior' Wiringi, the former president of the Mongrel Mob's Aotearoa chapter in Christchurch, and his partner Lisa Howie.

Aotearoa was the only faction of the Mongrel Mob in the South Island for many years.

A leadership dispute between Reihana's late father Wi Paikohe 'Greeko' Hirinui and Wiringi put an end to that.

Hirinui was stripped of his patch as a result of the power struggle.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/FAIRFAX NZ Mongrel Mob Aoteroa's old gang pad on Wilsons Rd, Christchurch. The building was torn down in 2003 after a major police investigation dubbed Operation Crusade.

He travelled to the North Island and joined Notorious before returning to Christchurch, where he set up the South Island chapter of that group – recruiting members from Aotearoa.

The split led to bloodshed on the streets as the two chapters fought for territory.

Police's response was Operation Crusade, a five-month covert investigation, which secretly intercepted thousands of telephone calls between the gang's key members.

The operation, which came to a head in September 2003, revealed drugs – cannabis, methamphetamine and magic mushrooms – were sold from Aotearoa's headquarters on Wilsons Rd, where a sign at the gate read: "$25 or f... off. MMM."

It caught Wiringi, the president at the time, boasting about a savage beating he and some others had given Frank Kirner, a member of rival gang Black Power.

The Wilsons Rd pad was torn down and more than 20 Mongrel Mob members, including Gilbert, Turner and Keefe, and their associates involved in supplying the drugs were convicted.

Wiringi, now a veteran gangster of three decades, was jailed for more than 13 years for an array of crimes, including possession and supply of magic mushrooms and the attack on Kirner.

First eligible for parole in 2009, Wiringi has made few attempts to impress those with the power to set him free.

The Parole Board heard last month he had incurred several misconduct black marks in the past year, was not prepared to do any rehabilitation programmes despite ongoing drug and alcohol issues and intended to remain in the Mongrel Mob.

His sentence ends in August next year.

When Wiringi is eventually released his sons Fairlane and Fairmont, both aged in their late teens, will be waiting for him. The pair are both pictured online wearing the gang's clothing and are proving a handful for authorities.

Gilbert's son, Nathan Whelan, 24, is also looking to the future. He recently found himself in trouble for stabbing a rival gang member who threw a drink at him.

Commenting on the Reihana case, Gang expert Dr Jarrod Gilbert (no relation) said the mass jailing of Mongrel Mob members would have almost no impact on the gang, because it had such a large patched membership – well over 1000 nationally.

"To think that it's somehow going to be gang crippling unfortunately flies in the face of history," he said.

The Aotearoa chapter in Christchurch would be bolstered from out of town or as members were released from prison and "the public will notice next to no difference".

Gilbert said research showed reoffending rates among gang members was "exceptionally high".

"These sorts of arrests are depressingly ineffective. They clearly don't act as a deterrent."

Prison was merely an "occupational hazard" and "a part of life" for Mongrel Mob members, he said.

"It's an interruption at best."

Corrections Department figures show there were about 650 people with Mongrel Mob affiliations (this extends to people who are not patched members like prospects and associates) in jail at the end of 2012.

Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Stewart said the recent case would cause some disruption to the Aotearoa chapter in Christchurch, but acknowledged it would be difficult to ever dismantle the group.

"Belonging to a gang isn't the problem. It's using that gang or affiliation to facilitate criminal offending that's the issue," Stewart said.

A task force was set up earlier this year in Canterbury to target organised crime and high-profile offenders.

It has raided about 200 homes and seized stolen property, about 115 guns and millions of dollars worth of drugs.

Stewart said police would take any opportunity to engage with people on the periphery of the Aotearoa chapter. Without some of the key members and "negative influences" on the street some of them might want to change their direction in life, he said.

As for those beginning their stretch in jail?

"I'm sure Corrections will give them the opportunity to explore other opportunities behind bars. Whether they take it up or not is up to them."