Despite having no clubhouse and a “dysfunctional leadership”, the feared NZ-founded gang has been flexing its muscles of late, displaying violence in ways that has sparked public outrage.

NZ founded gang, the Mongrel Mob, mistakenly targets civilian in attempted stabbing in SEQ

Cops put Mongrel Mob on notice

Mongrel Mob’s Gold Coast clubhouse

Last month an innocent civilian narrowly avoided being allegedly knifed by the Mongrel Mob in a horrifying case of mistaken identity in Logan.

The victim had just returned to his car at Eagleby Shopping Centre when he was allegedly attacked by gang members.

The Mongrel Mob had mistaken him for a member of Black Power, the gang’s fiercest rival in New Zealand.

Weeks prior, the Mongrel Mob had attacked three men in an Eagleby cafe, also believing them to be Black Power.

In the ensuing brawl one of the men’s arms was broken.

And on Wednesday a police raid at Southport netted six guns, steroids and Mongrel Mob and Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang clothing buried in the back yard.

A 25-year-old with links to the Rebels OMCG and Mongrel Mob was charged.

Organised Crime Gangs Group Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe declined to give specific Mongrel Mob membership numbers, but sad the gang “was stretching out across Australian communities”.

“They’ve certainly remained established within the Queensland context, predominantly in southeast Queensland, but there are pockets of them in central and north Queensland,” he told The Courier-Mail.

“They’re very much a criminal gang with a right-wing flavour.”

The Mongrel Mob formed in New Zealand in the 1960s, but today have a wider reach including chapters in Australia.

In Queensland they have surfaced in Brisbane, Logan, Rockhampton and Gold Coast areas. The Queensland chapters are an offshoot of the Waikato based Mongrel Mob Kingdom chapter in New Zealand.

Strangely, given its many Maori members, the Mongrel Mob has a penchant for Nazi insignia. But this appears to be about offending people more than a devotion to national socialism.

Not technically a “1 per center” bikie gang, the Mongrel Mob still has a similar hierarchy, including a president, sergeant-at-arms and a lust for violence.

The propensity for bloodshed saw state Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath describe them as one of the most fearsome gangs in the world when she listed them as dangerous organisation last year.

Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe, who oversees the state’s anti-bikie Taskforce Maxima, said this had helped police destabilise the gang.

Earlier this year police pressure saw gang members evicted from a Logan property where notorious Mongrel Mob patching ceremonies were being held.

Members have been charged for wearing gang colours and police have so far stopped a clubhouse from opening.

One factor preventing the Mongrel Mob from reaching its bloody potential in Queensland is its own leadership.

“The Mongrel Mob has a dysfunctional leadership within in Queensland at the moment,” Supt Lowe said.

“So they’re not necessarily attracting the best people or the people that are going to stay with clubs.”

He said this was due to people gaining membership to gangs more easily than in the past, and intense police scrutiny.

Membership in the Mongrel Mob is also fluctuating, with many wanting to leave after discovering the reality of gang life.

“The reality is violence, the reality is paranoia, the reality is these gangs expect much of person,” he said.

“A lot of people find when they get in trouble… and end up in jail, the gang’s not there for them.

“There’s no loyalty to what their used to be in traditional gangs dating back to the ’60s and ’70s.

“The context has changed, it’s about tattoos, steroids and Instagram.”

Despite the recent violence Supt Lowe is confident the potential for large-scale violence by the Mongrel Mob is limited.

“We do not have a turf war occurring in Queensland with respect to gangs in terms of territory,” he said.

“But obviously any sort of violence exhibited by people in a gang… we’ll pursue and in this case, the incident at a shopping centre, we’ve taken action.

“We’ll continue to apply pressure to those persons that want to join this gang and be involved.”

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