Remarkably calm: Two members of the Tyrants (in the background facing the camera) square off against a group of Nomads.
Usually I am all about the words, but this image is amazing. It captures an instant before gang violence erupted between the Tyrants MC and the Nomads leading to a man's throat being cut and eventually a significant law change. I covered the story in PATCHED (p.177) and I republish a slightly edited version here:
In January 1994, as the Mountain Rock Music Festival wound to a close notorious Nomad leader Dennis Hines cut the throat of the Tyrants MC member Tony Nightingale.
The incident occurred after two members of the Tyrants, an outlaw motorcycle club with chapters at that time in Levin and Pahiatua had attacked an associate of the Nomads, a Horwhenua based gang that broke away from Black Power in 1977 and gained a reputation as among the toughest in the country.
The beaten man asked his friends for back-up and consequently the Nomads went looking for members of the offending motorcycle club. The Tyrants were attending the concert with two other outlaw clubs, the Mothers of Palmerston North and the Templars of Christchurch but these groups and most of the Tyrants had left the concert when the marauding Nomads found Nightingale (and another member as seen in the photo above). The Nomads quickly set upon Nightingale and proceeded to beat him. During the melee, he became entangled in a fence, at which juncture Hines drew a knife and slashing his face before running the blade across his throat. He then cleaned his knife by repeatedly jabbing it into the ground.
Remarkably, Nightingale survived the attack, but it proved to have major implications for the justice system: leading to law changes that allowed for the use of witness anonymity during criminal trials.
In January 1994, as the Mountain Rock Music Festival wound to a close notorious Nomad leader Dennis Hines cut the throat of the Tyrants MC member Tony Nightingale.
The incident occurred after two members of the Tyrants, an outlaw motorcycle club with chapters at that time in Levin and Pahiatua had attacked an associate of the Nomads, a Horwhenua based gang that broke away from Black Power in 1977 and gained a reputation as among the toughest in the country.
The beaten man asked his friends for back-up and consequently the Nomads went looking for members of the offending motorcycle club. The Tyrants were attending the concert with two other outlaw clubs, the Mothers of Palmerston North and the Templars of Christchurch but these groups and most of the Tyrants had left the concert when the marauding Nomads found Nightingale (and another member as seen in the photo above). The Nomads quickly set upon Nightingale and proceeded to beat him. During the melee, he became entangled in a fence, at which juncture Hines drew a knife and slashing his face before running the blade across his throat. He then cleaned his knife by repeatedly jabbing it into the ground.
Remarkably, Nightingale survived the attack, but it proved to have major implications for the justice system: leading to law changes that allowed for the use of witness anonymity during criminal trials.
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