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Michael Miske’s half-brother and a longtime member of the organized crime boss’s criminal enterprise was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday. 

John Stancil, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy in January last year in the middle of jury selection for Miske’s trial, admitting to gassing rival night clubs in downtown Honolulu, participating in an attempted murder-for-hire scheme and acting as a getaway driver.

He was the last of 11 other co-conspirators charged alongside Miske to plead guilty, leaving Miske to stand trial alone.

Six months later, Miske was convicted of 13 counts, including racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering, in connection to his criminal operation that prosecutors called the Miske Enterprise, one of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s largest organized crime operations. Prosecutors said the enterprise used violent tactics and intimidation to further the group’s mission of enriching itself and maintaining power and influence. 

U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson on Tuesday described Stancil as one of Miske’s “key confidantes and lieutenants” and a “key player in terrorizing the citizenry of this city and county for years,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��.

Miske was found dead on Dec. 1 in his cell in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center while he awaited sentencing. The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office later said he died of a fentanyl overdose. His attorneys have filed motions to vacate his convictions because he died before his sentencing. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson said in a statement that the convictions and sentencing of so many of Miske’s former associates mean justice is being served.

“The court was deprived of the opportunity to sentence Michael Miske due to his untimely death following his guilty verdicts at trial for racketeering and other crimes,” his statement says. “But today’s sentence, along with the 18 convictions we have secured against Miske’s henchmen and violent thugs, demonstrates our strong commitment to investigating, prosecuting, and convicting those who violate the law and endanger the safety and welfare of Hawaii’s citizens.”

Stancil acknowledged in his plea agreement that he had been part of Miske’s criminal organization between 2012 and 2020. He admitted he provided the chemical agent to gas patrons at two Honolulu night clubs in 2017 — using a powerful insecticide called chloropicrin that was deployed as a chemical weapon in World War I — in a scheme to drive customers to Miske’s club, M Nightclub.

Stancil also said he joined other members of the gang in conspiring to kill a Waimānalo man who Miske thought was cooperating with law enforcement. Stancil gave information about where the man lived to another co-conspirator before Miske rescinded the murder-for-hire contract, federal prosecutors said. 

In addition, Stancil admitted to acting as a getaway driver in multiple assaults ordered by Miske and participating in numerous robberies on behalf of the enterprise.  

Other former Miske associates who have been sentenced are Kaulana Freitas, sentenced last month to three years in prison on one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of use of a chemical weapon; Preston Kimoto, sentenced to three years and one month in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping; Michael Buntenbah, sentenced to three years on one count of conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering; and Hunter Wilson, sentenced to three years and eight months on one count of racketeering and one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. 

Former co-conspirators awaiting sentencing include Miske’s daughter-in-law, Delia Fabro-Miske, who also made a last-minute deal with prosecutors during jury selection for Miske’s trial last year. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate federal racketeering laws and is scheduled to be sentenced in April.