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The conviction of Michael Miske, the guilty pleas of his 12 former co-defendants and the subsequent forfeiture of $20 million to $28 million in assets represents one of the largest single organized crime prosecutions in Hawaii history, according to federal prosecutors. 

But now that Miske faces a life sentence, and many of his former co-conspirators are looking at lengthy prison time as well, the question remains — will anyone take his place as a major player in Hawaii’s criminal underworld? And if so, who? 

The question is complex, but experts say the power vacuum won’t remain empty. 

“The underworld of organized crime is still something that we all have to concern ourselves with and that law enforcement has to be vigilant against,” said Tom Brady, first deputy prosecuting attorney with the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office. 

Organized crime has existed in Hawaii since statehood, and probably before that, said Brady, who previously worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and has prosecuted multiple organized crime cases in the state. 

The forces driving the syndicates have been the same — moneymaking largely through illicit gambling and drug trafficking — but the faces and nature of the organizations have changed over the decades. Sources agree organized criminals will continue to operate as long as demand for these vices exists.

U.S. Attorney Clare Connors said that while the Miske prosecution and forfeiture made “an incredible dent” in criminal activity in the state, other powerful actors continue to be at play.

“The fact is, in the state of Hawaii, we have all types of criminal enterprise underway,” she said. “Not necessarily racketeering enterprises, but certainly drug trafficking organizations, various levels of fraud, elder scams, things like that, which we find are perpetrated by networks.”

Changing Nature Of Organized Crime

A few names often come up when researching the major figures in Hawaii organized crime during the 1960s and ’70s.

Larry Mehau, who earned the title of the “godfather” of organized crime in the late ’70s — though he was never criminally charged — is one. Former Honolulu investigative reporter Jim Dooley dedicates an entire chapter to Mehau in his book on organized crime and corruption in the state, “.”

Other major names include Henry Huihui, a hitman who in 1984 pleaded guilty to and two 1977 murders, according to his obituary in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; and John Sayin Kim, a reputed organized crime boss involved in illicit gambling who walked with a limp after a bomb planted in his car in 1967.

Dooley writes in his book that Honolulu saw an increase in violence in the 1960s, largely associated with turf wars over illicit gambling operations. 

Some of this organized crime-related violence was particularly horrific. 

One federal drug informant who disappeared in 1978 was later found to have been buried alive in sand dunes on Oahu’s Leeward Coast by confessed mob hitman Ronald Kainalu Ching. Two other victims in a separate incident were forced to strip naked and kneel in a grave dug on a North Shore beach before being shot in the head, Dooley wrote.

The Japanese organized crime syndicate, yakuza, whose members often could be identified by their severed fingers and extensive tattoos, also had a large presence in Hawaii for a time. Many with yakuza connections even invested heavily in Hawaii real estate and golf courses, according to Dooley’s book. 

In recent years, though, organized criminals have evolved to become less showy about their brands, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill. 

Groups like the yakuza whose activities spanned the criminal underworld and the business world used their name as a way to promote themselves and show legitimacy, he said. But today, groups are trying harder to remain anonymous. 

Organized groups are also relying more on cybercrime and tools like cryptocurrency and the dark web to purchase goods, including drugs and weapons, while evading detection by law enforcement, he said.

Hawaii victims reported more than due to cybercrime last year, according to the FBI.

“Organized crime is more complex than it used to be,” Merrill said. “There are more avenues for criminals to earn illegal money and launder that money.”

One key factor that has remained constant in Hawaii’s underworld, though, is illicit gambling. 

“The key to organized crime in Hawaii has always been gambling,” Dooley said. 

In 2004, a bloody shooting over control of security at a Young Street gambling house played out in broad daylight at the Pali Golf Course. Multiple witnesses saw men running and being shot at in the parking lot and around the course’s main building, according to a trial brief filed in the case. 

Ethan Motta and Rodney Joseph were charged with fatally shooting two men and critically injuring a third. The injured man, who was shot in the face, lay in his own blood in the parking lot to play dead until the shooters left, according to the trial brief.

Active Groups

Game room-related violence continues to be a major issue in Honolulu today.

“Everyone is so enamored with this idea of making a quick buck off these patrons who just gamble their life savings away in these game rooms,” said Honolulu City Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam. “It’s really disgusting.”

Dos Santos-Tam said he wants to see the city do more to dismantle the game rooms and is frustrated the council hasn’t yet voted on two bills that would allow the city to fine property owners who have game rooms on their land and give police officers the authority to enforce building code violations with city inspectors. The council did recently pass a resolution to establish a gambling room task force, which must submit a report with recommendations to the council by Oct. 8, he said.

The illicit establishments are often sites of violence, said Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm. Of the seven murders his office has prosecuted so far this year, two of them were related to game rooms, he said.

One organization thought to be involved in providing security at many illegal gambling sites is the United Samoan Organization, or USO, a prison gang that was started by Hawaii inmates in mainland institutions. 

“While in places like Oklahoma and Mississippi, the prisoners from Hawai’i were picked on by others,” according to a trial brief filed in a 2014 racketeering case involving more than a dozen USO members and co-conspirators. “Initially created as an all-Samoan organization, the USO Family evolved into an equal opportunity gang, so long as those seeking to join it were willing to follow several rules … (1) a code of silence or do not snitch and (2) when one jumps in to fight, all jump in to fight.”

The group developed into a “large and violent” organization that bribed guards to smuggle drugs and other contraband into prisons, carried out attacks against other inmates and profited from illegal activities outside the prison walls. 

A Department of Public Safety official who testified in the trial said the group had grown to include at least 1,000 members. 

A 2007 U.S. Army report on gang activity as Hawaii’s largest organized gang and the main rival of La Familia, another Hawaii prison gang with around 100 members.

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement that gang activity is a “significant issue at jails and prisons across the country” but that its Security Threat Group Unit works to combat instances of violence and possession of drugs and contraband.

But not all organized crime groups with influence in Hawaii originated here. 

Connors, the U.S. attorney, said the main group currently responsible for drug trafficking in the state is the Sinaloa cartel of Mexico, which has members in the islands. The group is responsible for bringing in nearly all of the illicit drugs available on Hawaii streets, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, the highly-potent opioid responsible for surging overdose deaths nationwide, she said.

Another Miske? 

Megan Kau, a Honolulu trial attorney and former candidate for city prosecutor, said it’s unlikely Hawaii will see another figure like Miske any time soon.

“It took 25 years to get where he was before he was arrested,” she said. “So any group or gang or enterprise that is going to fill that spot is going to take years to build. And Miske, from what I see, seems to be more intelligent than those that are committing random crimes here in Hawaii.” 

Kau was once hired by Miske’s daughter-in-law, Delia Fabro-Miske, to represent Hawaii Partners LLC, a company owned by Miske, in a civil matter. She said the information she shared in this interview was not derived from her time working on that case.

It takes a certain kind of person to be able to exert control over others and have them commit crimes on their behalf, she said. Miske was not only able to operate a network of criminals, prosecutors said, but he also ran multiple successful businesses.

Although prosecutors accused him of using some of his companies, like Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, to further his criminal enterprise, other aspects of his business were legitimate. 

“If you look at Michael Miske, he doesn’t look like, talk like or act like your typical criminal defendant,” Kau said. “He could sit at a business meeting and no one would suspect him.” 

But his activities eventually started to draw too much attention.

The government accused Miske of making illicit profits from the sale of fireworks and drugs and even skimming cash from a register at his M Nightclub.

Miske was found guilty of 13 counts, including racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering in connection to the 2016 killing of Johnathan Fraser. Jurors found him not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, bank fraud and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Miske’s attorney, Michael Kennedy, has said he plans to appeal all of his client’s convictions.

While law enforcement officials say the community is safer because of Miske’s conviction, Ken Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project who has represented organized crime defendants around the country, said it is unlikely to deter future criminals.

“No one’s sitting back there and saying, ‘I’m going to give up all the money I’m making on drugs because I just saw Miske get convicted,’” he said. “They’re saying, ‘He was unlucky. He was stupid. He was caught. I’m not going to get caught.’”