Late on the evening of Thursday, October 22, 2020, Honolulu police raided an illegal game room located in an industrial area in lower Kalihi which had been operating next door to two buildings owned by the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the union representing police officers statewide. One of the buildings houses the union’s office.

Despite its location next to the police union, the game room was apparently busy. One man, 49-year old Be Van Chiem, was arrested for promotion of gambling and possession of gambling devices. In addition, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported HPD also gave out 27 citations to people in the game room “for violating the mayor’s emergency order for gatherings.”

Chiem posted bail of $250 for each count. A criminal complaint was filed in First Circuit Court on Monday, November 2. No court date has yet been set.

The street address of the game room shown on arrest logs is 1708 Auiki, at the corner of Auiki Street and Kalihi Street.

Google’s Streetview shows an auto detailing business downstairs, with addition space upstairs and in a warehouse area to the right, closer to Kalihi Street.

What went unreported is that this game room was located next door to the two SHOPO properties.

Real estate records show SHOPO owns the building at 1714 Auiki Street, which is immediately next door to where the game room was operating. The union also owns the next property at 1720 Auiki Street. These two properties along Auiki Street run through to Hoe Street, which runs parallel to Auiki on the back side.

The union headquarters uses the address of 1717 Hoe St, which is actually just on the back side of its building at 1720 Auiki.

Did the game room operators just make a stupid mistake opening next to the SHOPO buildings? Or were they following the maxim expressed by the character, Michael Corleone, in the The Godfather II, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”