Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
When Mongols gang president Jim "JD" Thacker was jailed for more than two decades on Friday, he clung to the hands of tearful family and friends on his way to the court cells.
The enormity of the sentence appeared to be sinking in for Thacker and his whānau as a baby was dangled over the glass dock for the gang leader to say hello to. Hugs were exchanged, hands shaken, and tears shed.
The 33-year-old was back in the High Court at Hamilton for sentencing on 53 charges in relation to Operation Silk, the police op that targeted the Mongols and its setting-up of a national drug distribution ring.
Twenty-four gang members were arrested overall, with Thacker the last to hear his fate in the High Court as a few minor players are still to be sentenced in the District Court for their parts.
His hearing, before Justice Melanie Harland, began with pleas from his mother reminding the judge "My son's life is in your hands". The comments pulled at Thacker's own heartstrings as he wiped tears from his eyes.
She also wanted to reiterate the "inhumane conditions" he was being subjected to in prison; being banished to solitary confinement for most of his time in custody, and unable to see family.
While Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett touched on Thacker being at the highest level in terms of offending and holding "incredible influence over others", she also responded to his mother's comments.
"Mr Thacker has, by his actions, caused the placement within that prison ... Mr Thacker posed a significant risk to the security of the prison and safety of those in the prison environment.
"That has not come about for anything other than Mr Thacker's conduct," she added, as she urged the judge not to issue any discounts for his time in isolation.
She added Thacker could have taken up the family support he had in New Zealand after being deported from Australia instead of setting up a gang and creating a national distribution ring for one of the most dangerous drugs available - methamphetamine.
"That was a significant development for New Zealand, your honour," Pollett said.
Thacker's counsel Bill Nabney accepted his client had a leading role in the gang, but noted others, mainly vice president Hone Ronaki, had his own drug "side hustle" that Thacker knew nothing about.
He said it was Ronaki who did most of the recruiting, signing up younger members of his own whānau.
"So while there was some recruitment and patching over ... the Mongols were a relatively minor gang in the New Zealand gang scene."
Unlike most that come before the court however, he acknowledged Thacker had a supportive upbringing in a loving, hard-working family, and it was once he got older that he joined the Bandidos gang in Australia, before being deported for his minor role in a gang riot in Queensland.
Justice Harland was flummoxed to see where he had now ended up.
"It's difficult to understand with the strong family support you had, the role model of hard work and the successful businesses you operated, how you pivoted into a gang."
As for his offending, she found he was in charge of the methamphetamine operation which he and others enjoyed profiting from, and saw extravagant cash purchases including $20,000 at Louis Vuitton, a jetski, and vehicles.
Justice Harland determined Thacker was responsible for 20kg of meth, up to 28 ounces of cocaine, 512 25I-Nbome pills, 1056 grams of cannabis and three jars of cannabis oil, as well as multiple firearms, mostly prohibited and some of which were found loaded.
Police also found 811 grams of cocaine stashed in the roof of Thacker's house, alongside the cannabis and firearms.
After taking a 22-year starting point, Justice Harland ended up at 28 years, adding uplifts for the additional firearm, drug, money laundering, and perverting the course of justice offending.
She handed down discounts totalling 20 per cent as well as a minimum non-parole period of 50 percent.
While she came to an end term of 22 years and four months, Justice Harland had to be recalled to lower Thacker's minimum prison term as the maximum that can be served is 10 years.
Meanwhile, the earlier sentencing of Leon "the Wolf" Huritu, 40, was more complicated because he had recently been jailed for his role in the Waikeria Prison riots.
Huritu, the Mongol's "Sergeant-at-Arms", was initially jailed for 10 years and six months by Justice Harland but she had to take into account the "totality" principle; or that a jail term is just and appropriate for the crimes.
He was jailed for seven years and 10 months for the riot, and Justice Harland found an overall sentence of 15 years was appropriate and jailed him for seven years and two months, cumulative on his other sentence.
*This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.