Longtime journalist Bob Jones, writing today on his own “Bob Jones Report” blog, raises questions about how the alleged Mike Miske gang operated for so many years with apparent impunity (“Something Was Rotten In Honolulu“).
He wrote:
Here’s what bothers me as more and more detail about the Michael Miske, Jr., “crime gang” goes public:
How is it possible that all this not-so-hidden criminal activity never came to the attention off police chief Louis Kealoha’s special intelligence unit?
Or did it, and was ignored? Or was somebody in on the “take”?
Jones implies the latter explanation is most likely.
I would note several things to be considered before drawing that conclusion.
First, local law enforcement is not funded or equipped to conduct the kind of long-term complex investigation that was needed to bring charges against Miske and his organization. That’s not because any problems within HPD. It’s the nature of local law enforcement.
Alexander Silvert, the federal defender who represented Katherine Kealoha’s uncle and whose investigation broke open the whole Kealoha corruption scandal, described the difference between local and federal law enforcement and court systems during a recent Civil Beat online discussion.
The local systems are primary reactive, Silvert said. A crime is reported, police respond, they find a suspect and charge them, and prosecutors take over, going to court if they can make a case.
Federal investigators have the luxury of looking at a potential case, taking the time necessary to develop evidence, then picking and choosing who to prosecute. Federal criminal cases are much more thorough because the system allows investigations time and resources to address complex cases. Silvert pointed out it is much harder to get an acquittal in federal court. Most federal charges end in a plea deal, or conviction.
The federal investigation that targeted Mike Miske stretched on for at least five years, and probably more.
Records show there was specific federal interest in Miske before November 2015. That was the month when an HPD officer tried to cite Miske for driving while using his cell phone, and instead of pulling over, Miske drove away. As the officer and his sergeant tried to serve the citation, they were threatened by Miske, and mired in administrative complaints. And when several weeks later then-HPD Sergeant Albert Lee was tipped off to Miske’s location and went to arrest him, he coordinated with federal counterparts, according to Lee’s sworn declaration filed in court. This certainly makes it appear there was an active federal investigation of Miske underway well before that time.
In the course of the federal investigation, the FBI, IRS, and other agencies gathered a mountain of evidence, recently estimated at more than 450 gigabytes of data containing some 160,000 files, as well as 32 disks of recordings and other data.
That’s the kind of effort even a large local police department like HPD can’t sustain.
The second thing to note is that we don’t know what information was developed by HPD and passed on to the FBI or other federal agencies. HPD’s Intelligence Enforcement Unit, formerly known as the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU), the same unit that was caught up in the Kealoha corruption scandal, works closely with federal agencies and does cooperate with them, sharing information as appropriate. And we don’t know at this point what information was gathered and shared concerning Mike Miske’s alleged criminal organization. I think Bob’s assumption that nothing was done along the way is questionable.
Third, federal and state court records show that many people associated in one way or another with Miske have been arrested, charged, convicted, and imprisoned over the years for drug and weapons offenses, assault, auto theft, and so on. These appear to have been piecemeal cases that involved players in Miske’s organization, but did not target the larger organization, most likely for the reasons described above. So to say HPD and prosecutors were oblivious to the whole thing is, again, an overstatement at best.
And, fourth, as a lawyer Jones knows that “knowing” something is going on and having the evidence to make a case that will stand up in court are two quite different things. Grifters and con artists often get away with their craft because catching them in the act with courtroom-safe evidence is complicated, tricky, and expensive, quite simply beyond the routine capabilities of local police and prosecutors. Organized crime is the same way.
For a number of years I served on the board of a condominium on the edge of Waikiki that became notorious for its many “massage” businesses that were thinly disguised prostitution operations. But “knowing” and proving are different things, as we repeatedly learned when discussing the problems with HPD over the years. A difficult problem from our end, but understandable when seen from the perspective of preventing an arbitrary system that allows arrests without evidence.
At the same time, there are good reasons to question whether there were links between Miske and Katherine Kealoha, as well as HPD officers. First, there are the street rumors that there had been a personal relationship between Miske and Kealoha at some point in time. Despite Katherine Kealoha’s explicit denials, those unsubstantiated rumors have been remarkably persistent.
Then there are the possible drug connections. Katherine Kealoha pleaded guilty to charges that she tried to cover up her brother’s involvement in a drug case. In that connection, she disclosed her own use of cocaine as well as abuse of prescription pain meds. At least one other former prosecutor was also caught in recordings related to the Kealoha drug case.
And it was alleged that pain meds provided by her brother were traded for cocaine for recreational use. What hasn’t been laid out is evidence of whose hands those drugs passed through along the way, and whether any of those people involved were connected to Miske’s drug operations, which allegedly distributed marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription drugs. Any such connections would certainly suggest a more serious problem.
I’ve even heard suggestions (without any corroborating evidence) Mike Miske had been a confidential federal informant at some point when the feds were focused on preventing the notorious MS-13 gang from gaining a foothold in the islands, and that this was an impediment in the early stages of the investigation.
The bottom line is that there are lots of tales out in the wild, but few at this point are backed by any solid evidence.
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All good observations on your part I don’t, however, buy that HPD’s intelligence unit doesn’t have the time and resources. It did pretty well when just a-borning with interrupting local Samoan gangs, Earl Kim and the Vegas junkets racket.
P.S. I’m not a lawyer; not a licensed one. I have an ancient (’59) law degree but never took the bar and went straight into journalism in Europe without establishing qualified state residency.
I’d like to add this: local police don’t always enforce laws that touch local criminals. I learned that in my rookie year on the police reporting beat for the St. Petersburg Times. “Bolita” numbers bosses went untouched. They shared relatives with the SPPD.
HPD never touched Larry Mehau for his “muscle” operations in politics and labor disputes. Never probed his Hawaii Protective Association. He was an ex vice cop. Chiefs Keala and Liu knew about his activities but let that dog lie because Mehau also brokered peace between ethnic factions by explaining that shootings and car bombings would bring in the feds. HPD only started cleaning up when Doug Gibb became chief.
It’s the nature of local police departments in tight-knit communities. Everyone’s somebody’s uncle or auntie.
I maintain that the Miske operation got a pass by HPD. He got a pass by the City Council on that idiotic “memorial lighted tree” in Hawaii Kai. These things don’t happen in a vacuum.
Miske, is in no way possible, had the power of Mehau!
No comparison. Miske’s claim too fame was His connection to “Uncle Buzz” Hong, also a famed Metro Squad living member.
There are two groups here, “Earners” and “King Makers”. The “King Makers” never get pinched!
There has been no John Gotti takeover of the Kingdom in Hawaii!
I know Miske said he was close to Buzz Hong — but what ties them together?
Feds also did a lengthy investigation on Mr. Mehau called Operation Firebird and that too came up with no criminal charges filed against Mr. Mehau.
It took the Feds to prosecute the Earl Kim gang on possession of sawed off shotgun, with HPD making the initial arrest and turning the case over to federal prosecutors. Kim also had a federal marijuana tax license conviction. Subsequent to his release from prison for those convictions, the Feds investigated and convicted the Earl Kim gang on a statewide 6/5 booking making operations. Mr. Kim is now, quietly, living in Las Vegas.
I come our somewhere in between your and Bob’s analysis. While I agree that the Feds have both more resources and more time to develop cases for the reasons you enumerate, I also suspect that either by virtue of having been an informant as you suggest or corruption at a higher level that has yet been revealed or both, enabled Miske to operate a vast criminal enterprise for years longer than would have normally been the case. The comparatively short lives of earlier organized crime organizations ie: Kim ( both of them) Pulawa, Leota and Stevens come to mind. I also don’t believe Miske was “controlled” by someone else higher in the echelons of organized crime although it is possible-even likely he had a cooperative working relationship with other groups such a USO. As I recall it’s been years since anyone in USO has been prosecuted at either the State or Federal level and USO is a VASTLY larger organization generating multi millionns of dollars in criminal activity reveue.
What is “USO”?
The Samoan word for brother and a large prison gang in Hawaii and the maiand
Gonna just state the obvious…
Wouldn’t HPD have “reasonable” explanations for why they can’t go after prostitution rings, drug trafficking, corruption within the dept….if they were taking bribes? (Not sure how quoting their supposedly reasonable excuses provides cover for HPD. )
Who needs a tv series or a page-turning novel? Real life has all the intrigue and connections — Kirk “LetsMoveOn” Caldwell comes to mind as does Keith “OnTheDole” Kaneshiro — to keep one awake at nite.
Why’d the investigation stop where it did? Dangling loose ends.
We don’t know if the investigations have stopped. Sure would be interesting to see what becomes of Kaneshiro. I’m pretty sure Leong is tied to the Kealoha golden parachute $250k.
Never blame on malice what can be explained by incompetence.
What I’ve heard of the Kaneshiro matter has no connection to the Kealoha case.
I’m hearing it’s all about what remuneration he might have received in that abused-spouse-shelter real estate deal. Probably involves Leong, too.
Now THAT’S definitely where the feds are better trained and supported to handle a complex investigation of bookkeeping and money transfers.
But Miske? HPD should have glommed onto that gang early on.
Yes, I think you are correct about Kaneshiro.
Ian,
With all due respect to your fellow online blogger (and friend I assume), I prefer your style of investigative journalism and writing. Phrases like “on the take” serves no useful purpose. And follow up comments relying on “from what I’ve heard” anecdotal evidence is certainly juicy, but also irrelevant.
Moving forward, we have a new Mayor, City Prosecutor, and a relatively new Police Chief. And if US Attorney Kenji Price can stay on the job long enough to finish what he started, maybe we’ll get some answers and see some changes on how Hawaii deals with organized crime.
Hoping for a better new year!
PS: My above comment got me thinking. Should our new mayor appoint a new police chief? Don’t all new mayors get that right?
Honolulu’s chief is selected by the Police Commission. In theory, it is supposed to keep politics at least arms length from the choice.
And we actually believe in this separation of power? Nonsense, give the Recallable Mayor full responsibility for Police & Fire Chief selection, subject to City Council Approval.
Skip the jokers of hop scotch / tooth fairy play acting! The Mayors always dictate to the Chiefs anyway!
@Da Banker
In some strange way I hear you, and I feel you. All the various commissions can certainly resemble “jokers of hop scotch, tooth fairy play acting” when at the end of the day these “commissions” or “commissioners” seem to have more power and influence than our elected officials do–and they don’t have to raise money and run for office–until you consider most are actually raising money behind the scenes for the people that appointed them to the commission in the first place!
What a trip.