FBI agents and Maui police Monday announced the arrests of four men who allegedly ran gambling operations behind legitimate business fronts and moved methamphetamine and cocaine from the mainland to sell on Oahu and Maui.
Maliu Tauheluhelu, 37, who lives in Waianae, is the alleged leader of the group, coordinating cocaine and methamphetamine distribution, illegal game rooms and online gambling applications on Maui and Oahu. His alleged co-conspirators on Maui are Maafu Pani, 37, Touanga Niu, 21, and Desmond Morris, 38.
Tauheluhelu was arrested Friday on Oahu. Pani and Niu were arrested on Maui where they live. Morris, a Maui resident with more than 50 prior state arrests and citations, remains at large.
For more than four years the group allegedly cycled through burner mobile phones bought under other people’s names to communicate, according to federal court documents. The alleged scheme also involved recruiting young people to bypass Transportation Security Administration screening sites to fly money and drugs between Oahu and Maui.
Tauheluhelu operated illegal game rooms at 980 Queen St. in Honolulu, behind a snack shop at 975 Queen St. and in a secret “VIP” lounge above his “Staxx Sports Bar and Grill” restaurant in Waianae, according to a motion to detain Tauheluhelu and Pani.
The group managed a series of gambling applications that allowed users to play digital games from anywhere after buying credits that could be redeemed for cash.
Pani allegedly sold drugs and ran an illegal gambling business out of his Snaxx shops in Lahaina and Wailuku. Federal agents and Maui police seized seven guns, two untraceable ghost guns, a crossbow, 15 pounds of methamphetamine, two pounds of cocaine, 20 digital gambling machines, gambling ledgers, $68,000 in cash and a money counter during the execution of 14 search warrants Friday.
Firearms allegedly belonging to Pani were a loaded .25-caliber Beretta handgun, a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun and a Remington 20- gauge shotgun. On April 22, surveillance footage captured images of three men handling what appeared to be an AR-15-style rifle in the driveway of Tauheluhelu’s Waianae home. Investigators recovered a ghost gun from Tauheluhelu’s “VIP” lounge and a ghost gun from Tauheluhelu’s house.
On Friday more than 50 FBI agents and Maui police carried out “Operation Faikava,” serving search warrants and making the arrests on Maui and Oahu.
During a Monday news conference in Wailuku, Steven Merrill, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Honolulu Division, said:
“The FBI is committed to keeping our neighborhoods in Hawaii safe. As members of the community, we share the public’s frustration with illegal drugs, violence and gambling in our neighborhoods. The FBI is, and remains, committed to dismantling drug trafficking and gambling organizations, which poison our society and the people of Hawaii. The FBI and our partnership with the Maui Police Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office has uncovered evidence in what we believe to be a nefarious scheme that has been operating between multiple Hawaiian Islands and the mainland.”
The group was charged in a 14-count indictment secured May 19. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation by the FBI and Maui police that used wiretaps, surveillance video and confidential informants to make controlled buys of methamphetamine and infiltrate the game rooms, according to federal court documents. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted.
Acquaintances of Tauheluhelu and Pani made audio recordings of nine separate drug buys, seven from Pani and two from Tauhelehele’s associates who identified the “VIP” lounge at “Staxx Sports Bar and Grill,” according to the motion to detain.
Pani and Tauheluhelu would “present a clear and substantial danger to confidential sources if they were released pending trial,” Smith wrote in his motion to detain the pair without bail.
All of those arrested are charged with drug trafficking conspiracy; Pani and Niu with possession of methamphetamine and cocaine with intent to distribute; Morris with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine; Pani with four counts of distribution of methamphetamine, three counts of distribution of methamphetamine and firearm offenses for guns in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; Tauheluhelu, Pani and Niu for conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and money laundering.
A “mountain of damning evidence” culminated in the indictment, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, speaking at the news conference on Maui.
“Friday’s operation was the culmination of long hours of hard work by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Maui Police Department and (assistant) U.S. Attorney Micah Smith,” Sorenson said. “They were investigating a difficult, highly secretive organization. … They also practiced sophisticated operational security in many ways.”
Pani was allegedly Tauheluhelu’s top lieutenant, and the pair are bound by family, according to the motion to detain. A forensic extraction of text messages from a burner phone Pani threw in the trash helped reveal the pair’s operational roles.
In early January, Tauheluhelu reminded Pani that he had a lot of his “work” out on Maui and that he was expecting Pani to be more diligent in getting the cash back to him on Oahu, according to federal court documents. Tauheluhelu told Pani he had serious “pumpers,” also known as drug dealers, on Maui, and Tauheluhelu expected it to be a lot easier to get his money from Maui.
Pani apologized but reminded Tauheluhelu — whom he calls “Toko” — that they had been working together in this way for the past four or five years, that Pani was committed to the work and that it is all he knows how to do.
Tauheluhelu oversaw the illegal gambling businesses on Oahu and Maui, according to the indictment.
Pani allegedly managed the Maui gambling business. Niu allegedly helped deposit credits in gambling accounts and move money from Maui to Oahu.
On Oct. 18, Pani allegedly texted Niu with instructions to place credits into different gambling accounts.
“This account, one in this account, and one in this account. So I give her like five hundred … six … and twenty five,” read the text, according to federal court documents.
On Dec. 29, Tauheluhelu allegedly texted Pani for a status report on their online gambling applications.
“Aye took how’s apps been do you think we should add another one? … Maybe bring back orion?” read the text, according to the indictment.
Pani allegedly texted back, “These apps is good it’s just been low numbers because of the holidays schedule we running here but we’ll see on January bro.”
The gambling business made at least $2,000 a day, according to the indictment.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, speaking during the news conference, lauded how police, federal agents and prosecutors left “ego” out of the operation. The arrests demonstrate the power of well-executed, multijurisdictional investigations, he said.
“The Maui Police Department works tirelessly to make this the safest community possible,” Pelletier said. “We’re talking about cases here that involve large amounts of narcotics, weapons and gambling devices. This is a recipe for disaster in any community, and it will not be tolerated in ours or the state of Hawaii.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that 975 Queen St. was raided. An earlier version included the address next door, based on information from the federal authorities.
