There are several versions of this not-so-old adage.

One goes like this: “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

Another variant goes this way: “Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.”

And if your basic tool is a group of large associates standing by to do your “dirty work” by assaulting victims on your command, your solution to all sorts of problems will be to fall back on threatened or actual violent attacks.

At least that is the picture that emerges from a stream of witnesses who have appeared in the racketeering trial of former Honolulu business owner, Michael J. Miske Jr., over the past couple of weeks.

In recent posts, I’ve described the assault of an employee of a competing termite treatment company, and the vicious attack on an M Nightclub bartender who Miske allegedly suspected of skimming cash from the bar.

The victim of another attack told his story to the jury this past week, with supporting testimony coming from responding police officers and medical personnel.

Ahmed Chergui had arrived in the U.S. from Morroco in 1990, and moved to Hawaii in 2015. He was licensed as a used car dealer, and started attending Manheim Hawaii’s wholesale dealer-only used car auctions in Mapunapuna. Chergui had run an auto body business, but his primary business in Hawaii became buying and selling cars. He also held a job as an armed security contractor working for a private company doing business with the Department of Defense.

Mike Miske was also a regular at the auctions. He was licensed as a used car salesman. Other dealers say he was often at the auctions with several close associates, including Preston Kimoto, a Kamaaina Termite manager, and Kaulana Freitas, a cousin, and John Stancil, his half-brother. One of his companies, Hawaii Partners, was licensed as a used vehicle dealer.

Both Freitas and Stancil were among Miske’s original co-defendants in the racketeering case. Both have pleaded guilty as part of plea deals with prosecutors.

Chergui and Miske met for the first time on Wednesday,September 16, 2015, after Chergui placed the winning bid for an old and inoperable Cadillac. During an inspection the previous day, the engine didn’t turn over, so he took a wrench and cranked it manually, determining that it wasn’t frozen and the engine could be repaired.

After winning the bid, Chergui said someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was, he later learned, Mike Miske.

Miske said he had been eyeing the Cadillac for some time, and said he would pay $500 commission plus the amount of Chergui’s winning bid. Chergui agreed. They then went to the auction office, where Chergui transferred his claim on the car to Miske. They later met and Chergui collected the promised commission.

It was, he said, a cordial meeting.

But things changed a couple of days later, Chergui testified. Miske phoned him on the evening of September 21, apparently with a bad case of buyer’s remorse. Miske, angry and cursing, said Chergui had sold him a bad car, and that his mechanic had concluded the engine was bad. He demanded his money back.

Chergui said he was trying to reason with Miske, who then demanded they meet “right now.” Chergui’s wife, who overhead the conversation on speaker phone, was frightened and asked him not to go. But Chergui said it was “good customer relations” and felt he could explain the situation. So he agreed to meet at Wendy’s, on Puuloa Road near Honolulu airport.

It was about 10:30 p.m. and Chergui was waiting next to his car when two cars pulled in. Miske got out of one, and two other men also came out and stood behind Miske.

One was big, heavy set 300lbs and the other guy was shorter 170 lbs, no hair, Chergui said.

Miske was cursing and threatening. Chergui said Miske came right up to his nose, and said, “you don’t know who you’re fucking with,” and demanded the return of what he had paid for the car.

Chergui said he asked what he had done wrong, since he said he explained the car’s problems before Miske bought it.

But Miske then gave a signal, and Chergui said he was punched on his left cheek by the larger man, which knocked him to the ground, where he fell into a sitting position, and was then kicked and punched for about 10 seconds, although he said “it seemed to last forever.”

Miske was yelling something, Chergui said, but his ears were ringing and he had trouble hearing.

“You getter get my money, you faggot, or you gonna see more of this!” Chergui recalled Miske saying. Miske then tore up the Cadillac’s title and threw the pieces at Chergui before he and the others trotted to their cars and left the scene.

Chergui said he was then bleeding from his ear and nose, his jaw was swollen, and he was trying to find his tooth on the ground he fell in the parking lot.

After calling his wife, who is a nurse, Chergui drove to Castle Hospital, where x-rays showed he had a hairline fracture to his jaw and nose. They were able to preserve his tooth by placing it in milk, and he was then sent to Queen’s, where he underwent surgery to replant the tooth.

He told the jury that he still has pain in his jaw, which now clicks and cracks when it’s cold and he opens his mouth. Ultimately, the tooth died and is now turning black, he said.

Chergui said he changed the way he does business after the run-in with Miske. He said that he initially went back to the auction, but Miske followed him around, even brushing up against him. So he switched to an online auction, stopped taking local calls, and only deals with mainland and military buyers. He also changed his business hours to close early. At home, he moved his German Shepherd to the front of his house, and now keeps a loaded gun in the house. And, he said, he talked to his wife and kids, warning them to keep an eye out.

Several pages from Chergui’s testimony to a federal grand jury in September 2018 were admitted into evidence. These are quoted at length below.

A.Yeah. So he approached me next to my car, and he came talking very bad language, literally swearing in every other word that I screwed him and I E’d him up and I did and I did. And I said where did I F’d you up? Explain to me where.

You better give me the money now, and he came to my face with a very hostile. And I realized there is two people behind him so I thought they were just people from the parking lot, but they were just still standing behind him as watching his back.

So he came more confrontational next to my face, give me the money now, demanding it with very bad language, excessive language. And for a point, for a second, I saw him twitching his hand because I’m looking at him face-to-face. He’s literally touching my nose, nose to nose, and I can see his right hand twitching, so I don’t know. I realize that later on, after the fact, that it was a signal for the punch to come from behind.

Q. You said you realized that was a signal?

A. Correct, because when I saw twitching, I looked up again, and I see a hand coming. So person to person cannot punch you, a hand coming directly behind his right ear straight to my face.

Q. Okay. And what happens?

A. I got punched, fell back toward, twisted my ankle, and fell on my back.

Q. And then what happens?

A. He gave them the signal to — on me, and they came and they start punching. The only thing I see, they are coming both to punch me, and I had to shield my head down. And they were punching, kicking, and then he came forward and start punching. I didn’t see him physically, but I saw a third foot coming towards me because I can’t look, I’m going to get hit, so I’m just shielding my head.

Q. Okay. So you’re getting punched and kicked by —

A. Three individuals.

Q. Three individuals, one of which you believe was Mike Miske?

A. Correct.

Q. And — and it’s the other two people that you identified as being behind him?

A. Yeah, because I remember he had — I saw white shoe coming towards my face, and he’s the only one was wearing a — white shoes —

Okay.

A. — at the time.

Q. And the other two individuals, were those the two individuals in the =-

A. Yes.

Q. — Lexus?

A. Correct.

Q. Okay. How long did they beat you up for?

A. I would say less than ten seconds.

Q. Okay. And why did — do you know why they stopped, or…

A. He ordered ’em to stop because he tried to make a statement, give me my money now, and throw the title in my face, and he said when you give me the money? I said I’ll give it to you. He said tomorrow? I said yes. So I was just trying to say yes, yes, just to get ’em out..

And this was the title for the Cadillac?

A. Correct.
Did he say anything about the auction?

A. Yes. He said I don’t want to ever see you at the auction, and he called me a pervert, and he came towards me like he wanted to punch me again like a final shot, and I shielded my face, and he stopped. And he just went back in a fast mode to get in his car, and the other guys run to their car, and they both took off at the same time.