Comanchero Vice-President Arrested in Auckland Drug Bust

Comanchero Vice-President Arrested in Auckland Drug Bust


The Comancheros. A name that strikes fear into the hearts of rivals and commands respect from those who understand the brutal world of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Founded in Sydney, Australia, they had evolved from a motorcycle club into a transnational organized crime syndicate with operations spanning methamphetamine importation, cocaine trafficking, money laundering, and violence-for-hire.
But their expansion into New Zealand would prove to be both their greatest opportunity and their ultimate downfall. What started as 501 deportees from Australia seeking new territory became a criminal invasion that would attract the unwavering attention of New Zealand law enforcement.
For years, the Comancheros had operated with impunity, moving millions of dollars worth of drugs between Auckland and Christchurch, laundering money through legitimate businesses, and building an empire that seemed untouchable. Their president, Pasilika Naufahu, had declared that the Comancheros saw themselves as "the number one gang in this country."
But empires built on violence and drugs have a way of attracting the wrong kind of attention. And in New Zealand, that attention came in the form of the most comprehensive organized crime investigation in the country's history – one that would take down nearly every member of the organization and leave their leadership in ruins.
This is the story of how the last free Comanchero fell, and why his arrest marked the end of an era in New Zealand's criminal underworld.