Mike Miske, the former owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, M Nightclub, and other local businesses, has a reputation for violence, and threats of violence by himself and others acting at his direction, built up over a number of years.

This description of an incident involving Mike Miske and Michael Buntenbah, one of his co-defendants in the pending federal criminal case, was received as a comment on an earlier post, but it seems worth sharing more broadly for what it reveals about his past behavior and attitudes.

Comment left by a reader using the name “Chris”.

I remember an encounter I had with Buntenbah back in 2012. My company was doing work on the property directly next to Miske’s property on Lumahai. Buntenbah was a laborer, along with four or five other guys and they were clearing trees from the Miske property.

The problem started when the started cutting down trees on my customer’s property. We immediately asked them to stop and they did. But the very next day the same guys, including Buntenbah, were over on my customer’s property cutting more trees down and trimming some. They refused to stop, words were exchanged and then one of them must have called Miske because he showed up soon after.

Miske came over and started lipping, threatened to burn down his neighbor’s construction site and said he was going to “hurt” me and I “need to watch my back”. Miske said we disrespected his guys by telling them they can’t cut down trees on ther peoples property.

Miske is a pure narcissistic lunatic but I still can’t decide if Buntenbah is deaf or stupid. I asked him that when he was cutting down my customer’s trees for the second day in a row but he never answered. Hopefully all of them will get painfully long prison sentences for the disruptions their existence in society causes.

Buntenbah, who legally changed his name to Michael Malone, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering, and faces up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced.

In his plea agreement, Buntenbah admitted he had been a member of what prosecutors refer to as the Miske Enterprise, a criminal organization Miske controlled and directed, between 2012 and 2016. He acknowledged having been a “trusted bouncer” at Miske’s M Nightclub, and participating in several assaults that resulted in serious injuries to the victims.

Several incidents are described in the agreemet. For example, in early 2013, a customer, identified only at Victim-C, accidentally bumped into Miske inside the club, and Miske asked him to leave.

A group of security guards then escorted Victim-C out of the club. As Victim-C walked backward, BUNTENBAH approached him and punched Victim-C in the jaw with a closed fist causing Victim-C to fall backward and hit his head on the ground. After the assault, Victim-C called Honolulu police from his home to report the incident and identified BUNTENBAH as his assailant. Responding officers observed cuts inside Victim-C’s mouth, redness to his cheek and a bump on the back of his head. Victim-C told police he did not wish to prosecute because he feared retaliation.

In another incident in early 2016, Buntenbah and other bouncers assaulted several people who had been partying at the nightclub. He punched one man in the face, knocking him unconscious, causing at concussion and a broken collarbone. He also “repeatedly punched” another man, then kicked him in the face after he fell to the ground.

He “was treated at the hospital where the examining physician determined Victim-H to have suffered multiple head injuries including a left orbital floor fracture and multiple, additional facial bone fractures around the left eye.”

In exchange for his plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop separate drug charges, including one stemming from Buntenbah’s participation in a 2014 attempted cocaine buy in California funded by $400,000 of Miske’ money. The drug deal was broken up when several cars ferrying Miske’s guys and the drugs to the San Francisco airport were stopped by DEA agent, who had been watching the buy unfold. Buntenbah was arrested, but released, because the drugs were found in another car.

The routine threats of violence apparently were not out of character for Miske and his crew.

A document filed in the federal criminal case and recently unsealed describes a similar incident involving a confidential witness identified only as CW#3.

28. On May 20, 2015, CW#3 reported that approximately five years ago, CW#3 was renovating his residence which adjoined an investment property owned by MISKE. MISKE was the owner of KTPC, and CW#3 frequently saw KTPC trucks parked in the driveway next door.

One day, MISKE noticed that CW#3 had placed construction waste near the street to await trash pick-up. MISKE was angry that the trash was near MISKE’s property line. MISKE approached CW#3 and asked, “Do you know who I am?”

MISKE demanded CW#3 move the trash and threatened CW#3 by stating, “If you don’t move it, I have guys who will make it nasty for you.” CW#3 recalled MISKE’s demeanor and actions to be “thug-like.”

In another incident, a customer (identified as CW#@) raised questions about the particular chemical used when his van was fumigated by Miske’s Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control. The customer apparently stated that he was considering filing complaint with the EPA about the company’s business practices.

KTPC’s business practices. MISKE, the owner of KTPC, contacted CW#2 by phone and stated, “Listen white boy, you’re not fucking from Hawaii. I’ll take care of you and your van right now.”

MISKE continued by threatening he would “beat the shit out of you [CW#2] right now.” MISKE called CW#2 a second time and asked, “Do you want to disappear in Hawaii? It’s not like the mainland; things happen here.”