Inside New Zealand: The Gangs (Part 2)

Video Description

2008 Pam Corkery’s eye-opening look into our country’s gang culture continues with an in-depth investigation into the drug P. Find out how it is changing these gangsters from small-time hoods to corporate enterprises when Inside New Zealand: The Gangs (Part Two) screens on Thursday, June 26th at 9:30pm on TV3. “Everything changed with P,” says Corkery. “With gangs gradually working together there’s millions, maybe billions to be made from the drug.” Corkery spent 18 months of her life immersed in some of New Zealand’s most notorious and feared gangs, putting herself in many dangerous situations. Perhaps none were more dangerous, however, than filming an operating P-lab and interviewing a very nervous P cook. This documentary not only shows us the extent of New Zealand’s P problem, but also the battle faced by customs trying to intercept the imports of P and P ingredients. More than a million containers come through the ports each year, and it is impossible to x-ray each one. Inside New Zealand: The Gangs (Part Two) also looks into the growing issue of New Zealand’s up-and-coming youth gangs. “There were the late nights spent with machete-wielding, LA-style youth gangs,” says director Laurie Clarke. “Talking to them one-on-one most of them were pleasant, friendly young men, but that all changed when we went out on the streets with them and their gang mates.” It’s not just society struggling to deal with the youth gangs. They are a headache for the so-called established gangs as well, and meetings are shown with gang bosses trying to find a solution. “The meetings smacked of hypocrisy, with elders saying they were gang members but they didn’t want the young ones to be,” says Corkery. “Some people are making genuine efforts to stem the rise of the youth gangs but they are at the coal face. They know the reality of the problem as opposed to the current, unworkable suggestions being put forward.” As this two-part documentary wraps up, we will also look at the future of gangs in our country. Are they with us forever? And in what shape and form as they become increasingly secretive, organised and technology savvy? “It’s not called the ‘underworld’ for nothing,” says Corkery. “There could be gang activity happening in your street, right now, and you’d be none the wiser.” Clarke agrees, stating, “With programmes like these it’s all too easy to adopt the shock horror approach and never offer any solutions. We’ve discovered there are people in this country with intelligent solutions to the gang problem – they’re just not being heard.” So what can be done? And what part do these gangs play in our future if we do nothing? Find out when Inside New Zealand: The Gangs wraps up on Thursday, June 26th at 9:30pm on TV3.