Lost Breed v Red Devils

Red Devils are known as a "puppet gang" for the Hells Angels, who are notorious for organised criminal activity.Lost Breed spokesman Rick Sanders said the club did not want any confrontation."We've already had one confrontation down the track, and we don't want any more," he said, referring to a confrontation with visiting Highway 61 members at Nelson's mardi gras in 1979.He said the Lost Breed was trying to go forward. "We don't want to be gangsters we are part of this community, so really it's sort of a new beginning."
The Lost Breed wanted to get on with the community, and was even planning an open day with neighbouring businesses at its clubrooms, which sported a circular bar so members could ride around it.
Mr Sanders described the 33-year-old club, whose members ranged in age from mid-20s to 60s and had regular jobs, as an extended family whose members helped each other.It had enjoyed a resurgence, with older members who had drifted away returning. "They've gone back because their families have grown up. We're all still very close friends and we're into our motorcycles."He said they had plans to join the poker run, advertised as being organised by Nelson Motorcycle Events, but then learned what was going on. "It was a bit of a setup."Mr Sanders described the new gang as a business, out to make money, that possibly saw an opening in Nelson.He said Nelsonians should be worried."It is a big organisation. They are local boys involved in it, but it is the bigger picture you have to take into account."The Nelson public needs to stand up and say, `We don't want them'."The community needed to come together and work with the police, he said.It was also possible that the Mongrel Mob would move into Nelson, he said. "They don't get on with the Hells Angels. They're battling them all around New Zealand, so where they go, the Mongrel Mob usually go."Gang confrontations have escalated in Australia, with a Hells Angel clubhouse bombed, a man bashed to death at Sydney Airport and his brother later gunned down."It's all to do with business which we are not interested in," Mr Sanders said. "It's to do with turf and what goes on moneywise."
He expected that law changes would be introduced to protect the public.Asked what would happen if Lost Breed members were not allowed to wear their colours, he said: "Not a problem; we would face that and work around it."Antisocial clubs should be outlawed, he said.Nelson Bays police area commander Inspector Brian McGurk said: "It is admirable that the Lost Breed are against family violence and P, but I wonder if they are also against the use of cannabis and the unrestricted sale of alcohol."The fact remained that some members had been engaged in criminal activity, he said.
Mr Sanders said this was individuals, not the club. "They have all gone some of them have been pushed, some have gone on their own. They are people who have abused our club and used it for their own gain. The Lost Breed as a club has never been involved in any of that."It was a club rule that if a member was caught being involved in P, they were out. "They are not allowed in the club, and that goes for any white powder."Mr McGurk said the Lost Breed were feeling threatened by another group in the area. "They have some concerns, as we do, but our motives are slightly different."