Back in August, I wrote about the young North Shore man who had just been “outed” after serving as an FBI confidential source during the federal investigation that led to the indictments of former Honolulu business owner Michael J. Miske Jr. and a dozen co-defendants (“A North Shore Shooting That Left Two Men Dead Has An Intriguing Link To The Miske Case“).

The apparent FBI source, Keoni Adric, denied ever being an FBI source, according to a close friend, and he had not been connected to Miske by any public documents available at that time. However, one of the apparent attackers he shot and killed during the 2018 shootout in the Haleiwa Joe’s parking lot had been mentioned once or twice in the Miske case files because he had allegedly been considered for a “contract” to kill Lindsey Kinney, probably in 2017.

But according to information publicly disclosed for the first time in recent court filings by attorneys for Miske and his co-defendants, Adric became an FBI informant after he was shot “multiple times” while attending a chicken fight in Waianae in March 2017, when he was only 18. His assailant, Dusky Toledo, was the man Miske had considered hiring for a “hit,” and was one of the victims killed by Adric in the Haleiwa Joe’s incident. The other Haleiwa Joe’s victim, Dustin Young-Toledo, was Dusky Toledo’s nephew, according to news accounts.

In court filings seeking to bar evidence of several incidents from being used against their clients, the attorneys identified Adric and two others, Kelii Young and Kaden Kanae, as members of the North Shore Boys, a gang centered in the tightly knit community stretching from Waialua, through Haleiwa, to Pupukea. The three allegedly participated in actual or planned robberies along with several other defendants who have already pleaded guilty to being part of what prosecutors say was Miske’s racketeering organization.

Kelii Young, who is several years older than Adric and Kanae, had gathered a group of young men and boys around him who were apparently being groomed as gang members of the North Shore Boys. Young shared a number of photos on social media of himself and his younger associates, including Adric, Kanae, and Dustin Young-Toledo, where he proudly referred to them as his “niggas.”

In the relatively small North Shore community, there were overlapping family relationships over several generations between different sets of cousins, as well school and other community ties that also extended over more than a single generation.

A 2017 social media post includes a photo of Young and several other men, along with a caption.

“They tell me I should be a roll model for my younger cussin!! I am a roll model I getting them ready for war,” which was followed by an emoji of a fist, and several hashtags, including #youngz, #gangstakinethingz, #north, #nsb, and #nothinghteycanthandle.

In another set of photos taken several years later, Kelii Young displayed an arsenal of weapons on a table at a shooting range, followed by #legalkinestuff.

The nature, scope, and timing of the links between Miske’s group and the North Shore Boys have not been publicly disclosed.

A photo posted by Kelii Young on social media on August 24, 2015, shows a group of men that includes Young posing with Mike Miske and others who were later indicted along with Miske, including John Stancil, Kaulana Freitas, Lance Bermudez, Michael Buntenbah (aka Michael Malone), and several others who have not been identified.

The caption reads, “No caption needed,” and is followed by hashtags suggesting an unspecified alliance between the North Shore gang and Miske’s alleged organization, including #fridaynight, #theboys, #northeastconnect, #northsouthconnect, and #teamshakumup.

Just two months later, on October 27, 2015, Kelii Young allegedly took part in the robbery of the BVNK clothing store on North King Street, along with Jacob “Jake” Smith, and Lance Bermudez, Miske co-defendants who have previously pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. They targeted the store after receiving information that a large amount cash from sports gambling was being held in the store’s safe.

The robbery was allegedly directed by John Stancil, Miske’s half-brother, who prosecutors allege “had taken over Michael Miske’s role of overseeing robberies” and who entered the store with the others. The men entered the store wearing sheriff shirts and masks, carrying at least one firearm and a baton. A store clerk was forced into the back of the store, while the men carried out the safe and a cash register.

All three North Shore men, Keoni Adric, Kaden Kanae, and Kelii Young, were on a preliminary list of potential witnesses to appear in the upcoming trial. The deadline for submitting final witness lists is the end of this week.

Miske’s attorneys sought to exclude evidence of these and other crimes, arguing that they had nothing to do with Miske, and were motivated by the participants’ other gang affiliations.

Prosecutors responded that the defense offered no evidence to support the claim.

“In contrast…the evidence will show that this robbery was a part of the pattern of racketeering activity of the Miske enterprise,” prosecutors responded in a court filing. “Moreover, Bermudez’s agreement to participate despite his personal ties to the owner of BVNK demonstrates that the robbery was not personal and only occurred because of Miske enterprise.”

Judge Watson deferred ruling on this and other similar disputes, saying that his eventual rulings would depend on the weight of the evidence when the matters are argued during the trial.

Kaden Kanae, Keoni Adric’s cousin and close friend, was part of a group that included Jake Smith and drug supplier Nicholas “Nico” Carignan, which planned the gunpoint the rapper/performer known as 69 during a performance at Hawaiian Brian’s on May 8, 2016. “69 was known to wear a valuable gold chain and medallion,” according to a motion filed in court by Miske’s attorneys in an attempt to exclude testimony about the incident. According to the motion, the men secured weapons, including a .40 caliber “ghost” gun and a Glock 26, as well as a stolen SUV to use in the robbery. The FBI had the group under surveillance at the time, but the men reportedly “could not get coordinated to carry out the robbery.”

Adric and Young allegedly then joined several of Miske’s co-defendants (Lance Bermudez, Kaulana Freitas, Jacob “Jake” Smith, and John Stancil) in the May 14, 2016 assault and robbery of a drug dealer near the boat ramp Maunalua Bay, where they stole his silver Honda Accord, his pants, and $7,000 in cash.

According to a report that could not be confirmed, Adric once “did a favor” for Miske, who asked him to deal with a group of kids who were bullying one of Caleb Miske’s friends. Adric was a highly-touted youth boxer who won several national titles before he was 18. A source said this “favor” was Adric’s only direct contact with Miske, but the story could not be confirmed.

Keliikoa (Kelii) Foster Young, also known as Keliikoa Foster, was indicted on federal drug charges in November 2022, and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, an offense carrying a minimum 10 year sentence. He is currently free pending sentencing scheduled on January 17.

His mother, Lisa K. Young, 51, was charged in January 2020 and later convicted of selling methamphetamine. At the time of her arrest, she had been on supervised release from an earlier drug trafficking conviction. In that earlier 2005 case, she admitted distributing over 50 pounds of “ice” and 10 pounds of cocaine over the prior 10 years. She is currently held in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, with an estimated release date of August 2028, although she was found not to have been an organizer or leader of the drug conspiracy. The case record is silent on who the leaders and organizers were.

“She also admitted that her 14-year-old-son . . . assisted in drug transactions from their residence,” according to a presentence investigation quoted in a subsequent court order. That 14 year-old appears to have been Kelii Young, now 34.

At the time of her sentencing in December 2020, Kelii took to social media to publicly praise his mother.

Mom was sentenced to 9 years. On top of doing 10 years straight already. This is what solid means n sticking to the code ¹⁰⁰. now days u niggas telling like crybaby’s!…Love u ma ‘this is nothing for u.