Ōtara is ground zero for the gangs, with kids there courted by them from a young age.
For more than 40 years Sully Paea, himself a former gang member he's been working with youth in Ōtara. Now he's urgently calling for more services for at-risk youth and their families - to give kids more options than gang life.
He's a well-known Ōtara resident and veteran youth worker tasked with helping at-risk children and their whānau in the neighbourhood.
A neighbourhood that includes the local gang.
"It's a brand, Pearl Baker is a well-known hot spot for gangs. It's Killer Beez territory."
Paea is deeply connected to the place and said the need is there.
"It is a breeding ground for criminals. I don't like to say that but that's the reality because of poverty and kids grow up, what's there, what's the hope for them."
On the streets, Paea works mainly with under 10-year-olds doing things like teaching them how to build their own bikes, as he says working with children any older is now too difficult.
He's calling for more services to help the community because in most cases mum or dad; or both parents are not around.
The kids are raised either by their older siblings or their grandmother and the cycle of deprivation continues through generations.
"There's a family that I'm working with, fourth-generation now, and I worked with the grandma, looking after her moko. And the cycle still continues, it hasn't changed since she was a young girl."
In recent weeks, Auckland has seen multiple ram-raids and gang shootings, and Paea said gang activity and drugs during COVID-19 didn't stop, instead, it increased.
He told Newshub police have known about drug houses in the area for several years but do nothing.
So seeing children as young as eight years old selling drugs is normal.
"The gangs have taken over the parenting role and raising our children and ended up in an environment where they think they are getting taken care of by getting money but they are being used pretty much for gang activities and stuff," he said.
"These are angry kids and it's because they live in an environment where it's an angry environment."
Paea, an ex-member of The Stormtroopers gang formed in Ōtara, knows first-hand what the children are going through.
"It comes down to the life at the home."
They find a place where they feel accepted, he said, and apparently the gangs and the ram-raids are comradeship. They are like a family.
For months now he has been helping families in the area to set up their own gardens.
"We have got cabbages, lettuce, broccoli, silverbeet and we have other vegetables that we have already harvested," he said.
"The reason why is twofold. It's is for education that I can teach the tamariki, what to plan, learning to plant vegetables for the family, understanding science and eating healthy.
"From a cultural perspective, from Matariki and understanding the Māori calendar. It is my way to connect to the children. And so that's the way to connect to families."
Using gardening as a bridge to connect to families, hoping for a better harvest in the future.
