Count #1 in the racketeering case against former Kamaaina Termite owner, Michael J. Miske Jr., sounds simple. The title: “Racketeering Conspiracy.”

It is a charge brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO. The law was passed in 1970 as a way to allow the government to successfully prosecute organized crime bosses who typically remain aloof from the actual “dirty work” of the organization.

RICO allows those at the top of criminal organizations to be found guilty of crimes they order others to commit, or assist others to commit, in order to benefit the ongoing organization, or enterprise.

The third superseding indictment, approved by a federal grand jury in December 2022, alleges that Miske, “and others known and unknown, were members and associates of a criminal organization (hereinafter the ‘Miske Enterprise’).”

All of the 12 co-defendants indicted along with Miske have already pleaded guilty and admitted being associated with the Miske Enterprise, although not all admitted to being participants.

The indictment summed up the Miske Enterprise this way:

Members and associates of the Miske Enterprise operated principally under the direction and protection of MISKE, who used his power over members and associates of the Miske Enterprise, his reputation for violence in the community, and the various corporate entities under his control to enrich the members and associates of the Miske Enterprise and to protect their criminal activities.”

But to be treated as a racketeering enterprise, prosecutors must prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that it has engaged in “a pattern of racketeering activity.”

The law sets out a long list of state or federal crimes which are considered to be racketeering offenses. And a “pattern of racketeering activity” requires that at least two instances of a particular offense must have taken place within a 10-year period.

And here is where it gets complicated.

The court’s draft jury instructions list 16 different racketeering offenses the Miske Enterprise is alleged to have committed. These are referred to as “predicate acts.” They don’t appear as separately charged crimes, but support the conclusion that the organization Miske directed was, indeed, a racketeering enterprise.

There is a set of general instructions of what is required for the jury to find a “pattern” of racketeering activity, followed by specific instructions of what must be proved for each of the 16 categories.

This is just the first of 19 counts against Miske that the jury will have to work through, although it certainly appears the most complicated.