Jaimon Swann was sentenced to seven and a half years for drug charges. The 28-year-old dodged two bullets as a gang feud between 501 upstarts and an old guard motorcycle gang spilled over into the swank Sofitel hotel. Judge Evangelos Thomas cited Swann’s bragging about his drug trafficking prowess.
A former Head Hunters prospect who switched allegiances to two closely related rival gangs, finding himself at the centre of a violent feud that culminated in the high-profile shooting inside the lobby of a luxury Central Auckland hotel , has been sentenced to prison for major drug charges. Jaimon Sofele Chairl Katoa Livingstone Swann, 28, was seen in CCTV footage scrambling to safety alongside a Sofitel employee during the April 2021 ambush as he checked out of the five-star Viaduct waterfront establishment on a busy workday morning crowded with bystanders. Neither man was injured, but the video showed a puff of debris as two bullets hit the wall next to them.
Swann, who is described in various court documents as an associate of the Mongols and the Comancheros, was on bail at the time. His home had been searched in December 2020 at the conclusion of a lengthy undercover investigation into the Comancheros dubbed Operation Cincinnati . But neither the recent arrest nor the close call at the hotel appeared to slow him down.
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