Bills could hasten building permit process
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted July 28, 2024
USO vs La Familia: The Miske Criminal Enterprise May Be Gone But Other Powerful Crime Networks Remain
CB: … U.S. Attorney Clare Connors said that while the Miske prosecution and forfeiture made “an incredible dent” in criminal activity in the state, other powerful actors continue to be at play.
“The fact is, in the state of Hawaii, we have all types of criminal enterprise underway,” she said. “Not necessarily racketeering enterprises, but certainly drug trafficking organizations, various levels of fraud, elder scams, things like that, which we find are perpetrated by networks.” …
Game room-related violence continues to be a major issue in Honolulu today.
“Everyone is so enamored with this idea of making a quick buck off these patrons who just gamble their life savings away in these game rooms,” said Honolulu City Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam. “It’s really disgusting.”
Dos Santos-Tam said he wants to see the city do more to dismantle the game rooms and is frustrated the council hasn’t yet voted on two bills that would allow the city to fine property owners who have game rooms on their land and give police officers the authority to enforce building code violations with city inspectors. The council did recently pass a resolution to establish a gambling room task force, which must submit a report with recommendations to the council by Oct. 8, he said….
The illicit establishments are often sites of violence, said Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm. Of the seven murders his office has prosecuted so far this year, two of them were related to game rooms, he said.
One organization thought to be involved in providing security at many illegal gambling sites is the United Samoan Organization, or USO, a prison gang that was started by Hawaii inmates in mainland institutions….
“While in places like Oklahoma and Mississippi, the prisoners from Hawai’i were picked on by others,” according to a trial brief filed in a 2014 racketeering case involving more than a dozen USO members and co-conspirators. “Initially created as an all-Samoan organization, the USO Family evolved into an equal opportunity gang, so long as those seeking to join it were willing to follow several rules … (1) a code of silence or do not snitch and (2) when one jumps in to fight, all jump in to fight.”
The group developed into a “large and violent” organization that bribed guards to smuggle drugs and other contraband into prisons, carried out attacks against other inmates and profited from illegal activities outside the prison walls.
A Department of Public Safety official who testified in the trial said the group had grown to include at least 1,000 members.
A 2007 U.S. Army report on gang activity identifies USO as Hawaii’s largest organized gang and the main rival of La Familia, another Hawaii prison gang with around 100 members….
read … The Miske Criminal Enterprise May Be Gone But Other Powerful Crime Networks Remain
Using DNA, authorities identify man who brutally killed Dana Ireland in 1991
HNN: … Using DNA technology, authorities have identified a Hawaii Island resident as the man who brutally attacked and killed Dana Ireland on Christmas Eve in 1991.
The shocking revelation (LINK) offers hope of closure in a mystery that gripped Hawaii for decades.
The man’s name is not yet being released, but authorities say he was a resident of Hawaiian Paradise Park. The 57-year old would have been 25 at the time of the crime.
Last week, after law enforcement secured a search warrant for a cheek swab, the man killed himself. He lived within two miles of the fishing trail where Ireland was found, brutally beaten….
DNA collected from seven separate samples were used. Semen found on her body and on her clothes, plus sweat and skin from a Jimmy’z t-shirt were all tested and all pointed to one person….
Through that extensive research, Kramer identified one potential suspect in February and gave the results to the FBI.
An FBI agent and Hawaii County police officers subsequently started surveillance on the man and last month, were able to get a fork that the man used and publicly discarded.
That fork was also sent to the lab for more testing and a match was reported in July.
On July 19, court records said officers, with a search warrant, collected DNA from the man using a cheek swab. Days later, the man was found dead in his home from an apparent suicide.
The next day, the DNA results from the cheek swab confirmed, yet again, it was a match….
PDF: 2024-07-28-Motion-Compel-Schweitzer.pdf (d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net)
CB: Authorities Believe They Finally Figured Out Who Murdered Dana Ireland 30 Years Ago. – Then He Killed Himself “Now, the attorneys say, Hawaii County police failed to take him into custody after they collected his DNA, even though they already had probable cause to arrest him.” The DNA collected from the semen on Ireland’s body also indicated the suspect had 80% Filipino ancestry. The man Indago Solutions identified had three Filipino grandparents. Additionally, he would have been in his mid-20s at the time of the killing and was small in stature, meaning it was likely he could have fit into a Jimmy-Z’s T-shirt that was found at the fishing trail covered in Ireland’s blood.
read … Using DNA, authorities identify man who brutally killed Dana Ireland in 1991
Hawaii Democrat ‘Uncommitteds’ Want Kamala to Surrender Israel
CB: … Last week the Democratic Party of Hawaii announced that local delegates initially pledged to Biden have officially pledged to support Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
But it seems that local party divisions remain. Nearly one-third of voters in the Hawaii’s presidential preference vote earlier this year voted for “uncommitted” rather than Biden to protest the U.S. position on the war in Gaza.
Last week’s meeting, according to a press release, included “a productive dialogue” with the uncommitted delegates, who expressed their commitment to peace in the Middle East and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza….
March 2024: Anti-Israel 'Uncommitteds' Take 29% in Hawaii Democratic Primary
RELATED: Runs away after throwing a rock at Rep. Michel's office window (chosundaily-com.translate.goog)
read … The Sunshine Blog: In Which The Blog Ponders The Meaning Of Life, Democrats, Elections And Weed
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