Kaulana “Shorty Bull” Freitas stood before Judge Derrick Watson in March 2022 to plead guilty to being part of a racketeering organization directed by former Honolulu businessman Michael J. Miske. Freitas admitted to being associated with Miske’s organization at least by November 2014.

Freitas was “family.” Freitas’ mother is Miske’s cousin. Freitas’ father, Edward “Denny” Freitas, a licensed plumber, was the responsible managing employee of Miske’s Kamaaina Plumbing and ran the company for a number of year before disassociating himself from Miske about 2015, state business registration records show.

In his guilty plea, Kaulana Freitas admitted taking part in varied criminal activities as part of the Miske organization, including releasing chloropicrin, a chemical used in termite treatments, into a busy nightclub on orders from Miske. He also admitted distributing oxycodone, and taking part in several assaults, including one along the ocean in Hawaii Kai that took place in May 2016.

But in a motion filed in federal court last week, attorneys representing Miske asked that evidence pertaining to that robbery be excluded from his upcoming trial because, they argue, it had nothing to do with Miske.

“It had nothing to do with Mr. Miske, the alleged fiction known as the so-called Miske Enterprise, or the affairs of Mr. Miske’s businesses,” according to their motion.

This has been a continuing theme of Miske’s defense team. They have repeatedly argued the alleged racketeering “enterprise” is a government-created fiction, and the crimes attributed to Miske and his “organization” were actually committed by members of Nakipi, La Familia, and most recently mentioned, a gang called the North Shore Boys, for their own reasons.

The government has not yet responded to this motion. However, prosecutors have previously argued that Miske was an “equal opportunity employer” who paid people to do specific jobs though they might have had other affiliations. But when working for Miske, these other affiliations were secondary to their at least temporary allegiance to him, prosecutors have said.

The May 2016 incident is not part of any substantive charge against Freitas, but is cited as one of the criminal acts that he participated in as part of Miske’s alleged racketeering enterprise.

This is a brief description based on his plea agreement that is excerpted from one of my previous Civil Beat stories.

On May 14, 2016, Freitas, Stancil and several others allegedly set up the robbery of a local drug dealer they suspected of holding a large stash of cash.

After luring him to the Hawaii Kai boat ramp at Maunalua Bay, the men began kicking him, and pistol whipped him in the head, demanding his car keys. According to Freitas’ plea agreement, the men then removed the victim’s pants, “which held the keys along with approximately $7,000 in cash,” and then left the scene in the victim’s car.

“Although Miske did not direct the assault and robbery and, in fact, later chastised the assailants for committing the assault at the Hawaii Kai boat ramp at Maunalua Bay, an area Miske associated with his deceased son, Freitas and the others involved in the assault were emboldened by their association with Miske and the Miske Enterprise and relied on the protection they could count on as Enterprise members,” according to the plea agreement.

In Wednesday’s court hearing, Watson asked whether Freitas believed this victim was unlikely to retaliate because of their association with the Miske Enterprise.

“Yes, your honor,” Freitas replied.

Last week’s motion to exclude evidence from this assault provides additional details about the incident, including filling out the cast of characters.

The victim is identified as “Mr. Char,” a drug dealer. This is apparently a reference to Michael Kaululoa Char, a Waimanalo dealer reportedly associated with John Stancil, Miske’s younger half-brother and co-defendant in the racketeering case.

Char has a limited criminal history. In 2012, Char was charged with first degree terroristic threatening and violating a TRO. In a January 2013 hearing, prosecutors explained the complaining witness had been sitting in front of the house when Char turned around holding a gun, and pointed it at her, court records show. At the time, Char was subject to an existing 3-year TRO granted in November 2011. A jury found Char guilty of the TRO violation, but not guilty of terroristic threatening. He was sentence to a year’s incarceration.

In 2005, Char pleaded no contest to promotion of dangerous drugs, a class B felony, and three minor charges. He obtained court approval of a five-year deferral of the no contest on the drug charge, meaning that if he stayed out of trouble for the term, the charge would be dismissed. In 2008, Char tested positive for opioids and admitted violating the terms of his deferral. He was sentenced to 7 days in prison. In early 2011, he completed the rest of his term and was discharged from court supervision.

Miske’s attorneys, citing other documents produced during discovery but not yet made public, say the assault on Char was carried out by members of two other gangs, Lance Bermudez (described as a member of the La Familia gang), along with two members of the North Shore Boys, Keoni Adric and Kelli Young. It appears the latter name is a misspelling of Kelii Young, a North Shore resident whose name has surfaced in other documents in the Miske case and has been associated with Adric.

Although their names appear in the motion and, presumably, in the underlying documents being referenced, neither Young nor Adric have been charged with taking part in Char’s beating and robbery.

Bermudez, one of Miske’s original co-defendants in the 2020 racketeering indictment, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to three charges, including being part of Miske’s racketeering conspiracy.

Kelii Young pleaded guilty last month to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute quantities of methamphetamine. He had been charged along with four others from the North Shore. Young entered a guilty plea to the one conspiracy count, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years. In exchange, prosecutors dropped seven additional charges.

Young also allegedly took part in an October 2015 burglary of the BVNK store on North King Street in which three armed men made off with a safe and a bag, according to another similar motion filed by Miske’s attorneys. Bermudez had earlier admitted to taking part in this heist and serving as the getaway driver, while Jacob “Jake” Smith and John Stancil are also alleged to have taken part, case records show.

The break-in followed a tip from Wayne Miller, another Miske confidant who has pleaded guilty, that a large amount of cash from illegal sports gambling was in the safe.

Adric, who was just 18 at the time of Char’s assault and robbery, survived a shootout in the parking lot of Haleiwa Joe’s restaurant two years later in which two others were killed. He was later identified in court files as a confidential FBI source (“A North Shore Shooting That Left Two Men Dead Has An Intriguing Link To The Miske Case“).

Adric’s involvement with Bermudez in the Char robbery could account for the FBI’s use of him as a source during the Miske investigation.

Miske’s attorneys argue the assailants were each acting in their gang capacities in carrying out this assault, and not as part of the Miske organization, and further that the Rise Enterprise is a government-created fictional entity.

On May 14, 2016, at or near 1:00 a.m., government witness Kaulana Freitas and gang members Lance Bermudez (LaFamilia-Shooter Gang), Keoni Adric (North Shore Boys-Shooter Gang), and Kelli Young (North Shore Boys) assaulted and robbed Mr. Char at Maunala Bay. Earlier the night before, Mr. Char purportedly had been seen flashing $100 bills in a large wad of cash and was a reputed drug dealer. This was the reason he was targeted by government witness Frietas, and gang member government witnesses Bermudez, Young, and Adric. Frietas encouraged Mr. Char to drive over to Manunala Bay to hang-out with his friend Mr. Stancil. Mr. Char drove his silver 2006 Honda Accord from Waimanalo to the Hawaii Kai boat ramp. Bates 00191256. Mr. Char and Mr. Stancil were sitting at Manunala Bay when Bermudez, Young, and Adric came masked up and Bermudez pistol-whipped Mr. Char. Adric had a rifle during the assault and robbery and demanded Mr. Char’s car keys. The robbers kicked Mr. Char while he lay on the ground and removed his pants, stealing $7000 and his car keys. Mr. Char’s silver 2006 Honda Accord was stolen as the robbers fled towards town.

According to the motion, Char went to Miske’s Kailua home on the afternoon of May 14, and told him about the assault and robbery.

“…Mr. Miske assisted in locating Mr. Char’s stolen car. Later, Mr. Miske smashed Kaulana Freitas’s car and hyper-extended the door (causing thousands of dollars of damage) because he was furious that Freitas had set up the robbery and assault of Mr. Char,” the motion stated.

The government’s response to this and other motions to exclude evidence is due next week. A hearing before Judge Watson is scheduled for December 8.