Mongrel Mob president who became key figure in $2.75m meth rehab scheme dies

A Mongrel Mob president who was a key figure in a controversial methamphetamine rehabilitation scheme for gang members has died.

Tributes to Sonny Smith, the head of the Central Hawke’s Bay and Notorious chapters of the gang, began appearing on a public social media profile understood to belong to him on Thursday morning.

Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd said she had been briefed about Smith’s passing and had spoken with police.

She said there was likely to be increased gang numbers in Hawke’s Bay, particularly Central Hawke’s Bay.

At 9am on Thursday, a large group of Mongrel Mob members pulled up at Hawke’s Bay Hospital, where it’s understood Smith was undergoing treatment for a terminal illness.

A convoy was then seen travelling south through Hastings, towards Waipawa, with reports of cars and bikes driven by gang members going through red lights and gesturing at passersby.

A Te Whatu Ora spokeswoman referred Hawke’s Bay Today questions to police.

Smith helped host the Mongrel Mob-led Kahukura drug rehabilitation programme, which was given $2.75 million in funding from the Government in 2021.

The programme was based at Tapairu Marae, outside of Waipawa, with part of the programme reportedly involving activities off the marae, including “gardening work” at the home of the 60-year-old and his wife Mahinaarangi Smith.

Smith was convicted and given a six-month suspended sentence in 2021 after a stun gun was found during a police search of his Waipawa home.

He spent two years in jail in 2010 for an attack on a fellow gang member.

Traffic disruptions on State Highway 2 in Central Hawke’s Bay could occur across multiple days, due to convoys associated with his tangi.

Hawke’s Bay Today understands extra police staff from around the country are being called into the region as a precaution.

Kahukura funding: The political fallout

In 2021, the Kahukura funding turned into a political storm, with National, then in opposition, relentlessly criticising Ardern’s Government for granting it.

A senior Hawke’s Bay police officer focused on busting organised criminal groups also publicly criticised the funding.

In a letter published by the Police Association magazine, the supervisor in the region’s Organised Crime Unit spoke of his frustration at the money coming out of the Proceeds of Crime Fund.

Detective Sergeant Mark Moorhouse said in his letter he needed to “call BS” on claims by politicians the programme had been supported by local cops: “The bulk of us don’t support it”.

“My gang-focus staff have for the past two years fought tooth-and-nail to confront the violence and insidious harm the Mongrel Mob, in particular, have unleashed in our community,” he wrote in 2021.

“They openly flaunt the wealth they generate from the poison they infuse our communities with.”

He said the seizure of “huge amounts of firearms, drugs and assets” had been spoiled by giving the $2.75m to Harry Tam-led organisation Hard2Reach.

“Now you want to tell us that nearly $3 million worth of our blood, sweat and tears is going to be allocated to a scheme that only allows the individuals who are responsible for causing the harm to be enrolled in it, to the detriment of more worthy causes, and then tell the country that the Hawkes’ Bay Police support it.

“I have seen no evidence from any gang or their leaders that they wish to distance themselves from the wealth they are generating from peddling this poison in our community.”