Fourth Reich (New Zealand gang)
The Fourth Reich was a gang which was based on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand formed in 1994.[1]
In 1997, two members killed a young Māori man, Hemi Hutley. They beat him unconscious, dragged him across wasteland, stripped him and then threw him into the Buller river where he drowned.[2]
This was the beginning of the gang's reign of terror on the West Coast and they were later involved in the murders of Janis Bamborough in 1999 and Korean tourist Jae Hyeon Kim in 2003.
Attempts were made by the gang to set up inside Nelson however this created tension with the local motorcycle club, The Lost Breed MC.
This tension boiled over when the Fourth Reich blew up a Ford Fairmont outside the Lost Breed clubhouse, sparking a turf war which ultimately saw the Reich leave the town.[2]