New Zealand’s Largest Gang: Mighty Mongrel Mob

 In the 1960s, a gang of variously disaffected youth sprang up in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.

They didn’t ride bikes, but they quickly developed all the trimmings of an outlaw motorcycle club: patches, club colors, and a fiercely violent process of initiation.   They came to be known as the Mighty Mongrel Mob and today they’re the largest gang in the country, with around 30 chapters across both islands. Media access to the Mob is rare, which is why this photo series by Jono Rotman is kind of a big deal.

Jono, who is a Wellington born photographer now living in NYC, cut his teeth capturing New Zealand’s prisons and psychiatric wards, before he took on gang life in 2007.

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Hot Weather And Gangs Responsible For Rise In Gun Violence

500New York City police department officials are attributing a continued rise in gun violence to gang activity and hot weather, after more than a decade of consistently falling shooting rates in the city.

Though there has been a drop in overall crime in New York City, NYPD officials said on Monday that they are working to address the increase in gun activity before the hot summer months, which are correlated with an increase in crime.

Gun violence has been rising in the city for the past two years.

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