PHOTO: Two-part documentary called The Gangs 

According the the NZHERALD for decades, popular journalist and broadcaster Pam Corkery was on our screens, talking on our radios or in our Parliament.

Fergs Coffee

But in recent years New Zealand has been Corkery-free as the 66-year-old has taken herself off to Brisbane, Australia and found other things to occupy herself.

But that hasn’t stopped her from keeping a keen interest in our current affairs and keeping abreast of everything that happens in her home country.

Which is why she is back on our screens after 14 years. In 2008 she did a two-part documentary called The Gangs which gained her unprecedented access to gang life.

She has returned to the topic after feeling concerned that gangs were increasingly in the media.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading and seeing about the gangs in New Zealand. So much had changed since our documentary and instead of decreasing in numbers there were more gangs than ever,” says Pam. “I thought, ‘this is nuts, we’re going through the whole gang drama again’.”

She rang her friend Laurie Clarke, who was the producer and director of those first documentaries, and suggested it might be time they took another look.

The result – The Gangs … 14 Years Later is full of new information about what is going on in our gang culture, much of which we haven’t heard about, according to Woman’s Weekly.

“We get into the corruption going on inside the gangs, we’re talking white-collar corruption involving real estate agents, lawyers and accountants, and then the other countries coming into this country’s gang culture – the Russians, the Chinese, the Mexicans. It’s terrifying,” she says.

 

“Customs told us that we’ve got to get over this belief that New Zealand is not corrupt. Because there are real estate agents washing money here, an accountant went down for a couple of years for helping a gang. Any drug that comes into New Zealand has been aided by people no one will ever see.

 

“I felt like a virgin who’s never had a drink when I did the documentary this time around. I was constantly saying – Oh, my God!”

”Mum said to me once, ‘whoever you’re talking to, think to yourself I wonder what it’s like to be them?’ - and that’s really the end of the story.“ Photo / The Gangs ... 14 years later
”Mum said to me once, ‘whoever you’re talking to, think to yourself I wonder what it’s like to be them?’ – and that’s really the end of the story.“ Photo / The Gangs … 14 years later

And there is Pam Corkery’s trademark humour which made her such a huge hit with her fans in New Zealand.

It is also possibly a factor in the acceptance and unique access Pam got to various gang members for her documentary.

While some people she interviewed chose to hide their identity, most were happy to trust her to tell their story and face up to her in front of the cameras.

How did she get their trust?

“Mum said to me once, ‘whoever you’re talking to, think to yourself I wonder what it’s like to be them?’ – and that’s really the end of the story.

“I don’t promise anything, I just go and listen,” says Pam. “And also, I’m not a patsy interviewer around this, I’ll take the piss if they say something stupid.

“I did refuse to eat kina at one event when it was pretty obvious that I was expected to and it had been put out specially for me, but I said it was a line too far.”

There is also the fact that Pam is aged 66 and is not a tall woman, often dwarfed by the massive male gang members she is interviewing. Was she ever scared?

Pam’s life has had its own ups and downs. She has talked openly about her addiction issues and has moved in and out of recovery. Photos: Rob Trathen. Hair & Makeup: Kate Smith
Pam’s life has had its own ups and downs. She has talked openly about her addiction issues and has moved in and out of recovery. Photos: Rob Trathen. Hair & Makeup: Kate Smith

“I was afraid once when we went to a Mongrel Mob headquarters in Porirua and there’s two men in the car, the producer and the camera guy, and we couldn’t see if anyone was there and we realised that someone was going to have to go in and they were both looking at me,” says Pam.

“So, there I am running inside with all these bulldogs barking at me so that freaked me out. But I wasn’t really scared at all because a lot of people think they’re going to see the devil when they meet with gangs but they’ve got no horns. A lot of them are very poor and they’ve had difficult lives.”

Pam says the gang members she talked to were easier to interview than the police.

“There’s no jargon. They say, ‘I’ve agreed to this interview, here we go.’ They’ll tell us about having been in prison and everything, but they won’t tell me about crimes they might be doing this week. They are refreshingly open and many of them are very eloquent, well-read and have a great vocabulary.”

Pam says that her age and being a woman helped too.

MOST POPULAR