Heart originally faced 110 charges, mostly relating to the supply of methamphetamine, but also cocaine and MDMA, and possession of firearms and explosives.
However, in recent days he has pleaded guilty to 73 charges, more than 50 of which relate to the supply of meth around the Waikato, supplying MDMA, offering to supply meth, supplying materials used in meth production, unlawful possession of firearms and explosives, and participating in an organised criminal group.
He is still fighting charges related to supply, offering to supply and conspiring to supply about 50kg of meth, conspiracy to murder another gang member Heart felt had ripped him off 10 bitcoin, conspiring to kidnap that man, and conspiring to chop another man’s finger off.
Hamilton told the jury police managed to combat the alleged hit by arresting the unsuspecting “victim” and keeping him in custody.
The offending allegedly occurred between November 2019 and June 2021.
Hamilton told the jury that Heart peddled the drugs with one focus.
Money.
“It was his business.
“It was how he earned a living and how he was getting rich and growing his power.”
Hamilton said a kilogram of meth was worth $180,000 to $220,000 between October 2019 and June 2021.
Heart could source meth and cocaine from China and Mexico for between US$5000 ($8450) and US$10,000 ($16,900), “making it a very profitable business”.
She claimed Heart, who was “exacting and ruthless,” was selling meth in kilograms and ounces to others below him in his group to make their own profit.
Revealing details of the wounding charges, Heart is alleged to have told another man that he was “thinking about chopping [man’s] finger off tomorrow, lol”.
“Need butcher knife and hammer”, he reportedly said. The other man allegedly replied, “send him the gangster message”.
The conspiring to murder messages involved Heart “ordering the hit” of a man in 2021 who was in Colombia, Hamilton told the jury.
Heart had become unhappy with a man who had a drug debt with him and gave him bitcoin as payment.
Over many months, the man disagreed with the extent of the debt, “so much so that Mr Heart became angry”.
Heart suggested potentially kidnapping one of the man’s family members to get him back to New Zealand, and told his Comanchero gang contact he wanted to “get the c***”.
The contact said he would “get him put to bed. no problem”.
Junior Heart is defending 37 drug, firearm, and violence-related charges as part of Operation Equinox. Photo / Belinda Feek
He messaged Heart again, confirming he wanted the man “killed”.
“You want slept correct?”
Heart responded, “correct”, before floating the idea of torturing him so he could pay his bill.
“The reason I say torture brother is because he was a dark web guy so he will have heaps of crypto.
“If too much headache, sleep time for him.”
The target returned to Hamilton, and police arrested him to keep him safe.
At the time of his arrest in June 2021, Hamilton claimed Heart was waiting on a 270kg shipment of meth from overseas, after telling his contact that he would “take as much as [he] could possibly offer”.
As for cocaine, the amounts sold “paled in comparison” to meth, but he was allegedly supplying it around May and June 2020, after the first Covid-19 lockdown.
At one point cocaine was “the champagne of drugs” but when supplies increased, prices dropped and it was soon on par with meth.
As for MDMA, also known as ecstasy, about 5000 pills could be pressed from 1kg of the drug.
She claimed Heart sourced 2kg of MDMA between March 2020 and June 2021.
Heart had already pleaded guilty to charges relating to the distribution of MDMA.
Hamilton said Heart’s business ran like a “well-oiled machine”.
“He set the prices.
“He determined what quantities others in the syndicate could receive at any one time.”
Some of his right-hand men were paid a wage, she said.
She alleged Heart, commander of the Waikato chapter of the Comancheros, was the ringleader.
“He was the commander in the Waikato and his influence amongst those affiliated with the Mongrel Mob was also strong given that he had previously been a patched member of that gang.
“It is the Crown case that he was the controlling force of that syndicate and that he profited significantly from the activities.”
‘The defence and its four key issues’
Heart’s counsel Sam Wimsett KC said the defence had four key issues, some applying to more charges than others.
The first was whether a planned deal actually happened.
As for the conspiracy charges, there was an issue whether there was an actual agreement.
“Whether it’s more than chit chat, general ideas, spitballing, or whether there was in fact an agreement.”
Junior Heart acknowledges a supporter in the public gallery of the High Court at Hamilton this morning as his approximate three-week trial kicks off. Photo / Belinda Feek
Another issue would be doubling up, whether an offence is already captured by another charge.
The final issue was whether there was “another person or persons” who doesn’t feature as part of the prosecution case.
“Has anyone been missed who could explain some things did or didn’t happen?
“Mr Heart is undoubtedly, and was undoubtedly, a criminal, he accepts that, but not to the extent that’s alleged by the Crown.
“How far does his criminality go?”
‘The fake software that duped criminals worldwide’
Hamilton outlined for the jury how police discovered the FBI were investigating Waikato-based criminals.
Before September 2019, police and customs were already investigating two New Zealanders living overseas who they believed were importing drugs into the country.
One was a “self-styled commander” of a gang based overseas and believed to have been importing meth, cocaine and MDMA.
The other lived in another country, and police believed he was “actively assisting” him.
During that investigation, they were alerted to the arrival of a package of Dedicated Encrypted Communication Devices [DECD].
Hamilton said criminals “savvy” with police techniques often used pre-paid phones and spoke in code to keep their communications private.
However, it usually didn’t take long for police to crack the codes and take the offenders down.
Hence the development of DECDs.
In 2019, police had never seen them.
They looked like a regular mobile phone, but their functions were limited to sending voice messages or photos.
At that stage, a 6-month subscription cost up to $4000 per device.
In September that year, Customs identified a package from Hong Kong containing 20 devices, destined for a Waikato property.
The package was listed as containing lithium-ion batteries.
Then another package arrived.
After earlier covert investigations, police were able to unlock the devices using a password and found they were running on an encrypted network called ANOM.
“That was completely new to police. They were not aware of the ANOM software.”
After getting High Court permission to track the devices, they obtained the communications sent by and between them.
The police investigation was dubbed Operation Equinox.
Hamilton said Heart had a DECD device “and was actively using it”.
But given the encryption, a “very frustrating phase” began for police as although they could see messages being exchanged, they couldn’t read them.
“Police knew the communications were there, but they were effectively blind to them.”
They found ANOM operated out of Panama, and the company stated it wouldn’t answer to any search warrant outside that country.
“So, the police knew messages were being sent and who between.
“They were confident criminal activity was occurring, and they could do very little to interfere with it.”
At that stage, Heart was going by his former name, Sonny Fatu Junior.
He soon after officially changed his name to Junior Heart.
On December 18, 2019, Heart travelled to Phuket with Joseph Edmonds, who changed his name to Josef Heart around the same time.
Moving into 2020, police discovered the Hearts were involved in the supply of drugs.
By March, they learned ANOM was a “carefully planned and well-executed” software developed by the FBI and marketed to criminals worldwide.
At that stage, the FBI was targeting transnational criminal groups involved in serious offences.
Like police in other countries, the FBI didn’t want NZ Police to compromise their wider operation so they had no option but to “watch, wait and work on piecing together the very many transactions being undertaken”.
Police would ultimately end up with all communications between October 2019 and when the operation wrapped up in June 2021.
The trial, overseen by Justice Brett Tantrum, is set down for about three weeks.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.