New Zealand's most notorious gang

These haunting portraits by photographer Jono Rotman offer a close look at the largest gang in New Zealand, the Mongrel Mob. After coordinating with a gang liaison, Rotman met mob members and gained unprecedented access to them. He took these portraits inside their homes from 2008 to 2014.

New Zealand's most notorious gang

The Mongrel Mob started in the 1960s. Its members are known for their extensive tattoos and for wearing an emblem of a British bulldog with a Nazi helmet on their jackets and helmets. Most members are predominantly Maori people, the indigenous population of New Zealand.

New Zealand's most notorious gang

The Mob appropriated Nazi party symbolism as their own but they are not white supremacists, Rotman said. "That Nazi iconography is a firm part of their identity and it's got nothing to do with white supremacy," Rotman told CNN. "The fathers and grandfathers of a lot of those guys brought back war booty from fighting the Germans, so there were a lot of swastikas and Nazi helmets lying around in attics and basements."

New Zealand's most notorious gang

One of Rotman's subjects shared his grandfather's reasoning for choosing the swastika. "(He told me,) 'You think you're the master race? Well, I'll take your skin and put it on. Now who is the master race?' "

New Zealand's most notorious gang

New Zealand's most notorious gang

The New Zealand-born and San Francisco-based photographer says he didn't ask his subjects to pose. "Other than perhaps occasionally saying 'Face me directly' or 'Turn to the side a bit,' they tend to just sit how they are. It just so happens that they have a certain gravitas," Rotman said. "I haven't done makeup. I haven't done Photoshop. I've just taken a backdrop, a camera and photographed what existed."

New Zealand's most notorious gang

After dedicating the last eight years to this project, Rotman wants viewers to know he was not attempting to spin a narrative. "It's not actually about the Mob," he says. "It's more an effort to present these people so that the images speak for themselves. It is for the faces to reveal stories about the person, rather than for me to translate their story, which is not mine to tell."