Hawaii crime boss Michael Miske found dead in federal prison
A Hawaii crime boss convicted in a revenge killing plot of his son’s friend was found dead inside his prison cell over the weekend, authorities announced Monday.
Michael “Mike” Miske, 50, was discovered unresponsive inside his cell at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Miske was pronounced dead just after 10 a.m. His cause of death remains unclear.
Investigators are allegedly probing the crime boss’s death as a suicide, but it’s unclear if he was on suicide watch, KGMB reported.
A jury had convicted Miske of 13 charges in July, including racketeering conspiracy, murder in the aid of racketeering, and kidnapping resulting in death.
Miske’s crime organization, referred to in an indictment as the “Miske Enterprise,” ran from the late 1990s until his arrest in July 2020, until he was arrested on kidnapping and murder charges in connection to the disappearance of 21-year-old Jonathan Fraser.
Fraser was best friends with Miske’s late son, Caleb Miske, and the pair were in a high-speed crash together in Nov. 2015, resulting in the kingpin’s son’s death.
Although police reported Caleb had been driving, Miske allegedly insisted that Fraser was responsible for the death of his only son.
Fraser vanished without a trace in July 2016. His body was never found.
After Fraser’s disappearance, Miske began being investigated by police, where his web of criminal activity came into focus, with federal agents raiding his home in July 2020 and arresting him.
His trial began in January 2024 and lasted around six months.
“During the trial, evidence was produced that from about March 2016 and continuing to about July 30, 2016, Miske conspired with others to kidnap and murder 21-year-old Johnathan Fraser in the belief that Fraser was responsible for Miske’s son’s death as a result of an automobile crash,” according to the US Attorney’s Office.
“In March 2016, Miske instructed a co-conspirator to develop a plan for kidnapping and murdering Fraser and told that co-conspirator that he/she could name the price for carrying out the murder. On or about July 30, 2016, Fraser was kidnapped and killed.”
“On that same day, another of Miske’s co-conspirators took Fraser’s significant other on a ‘spa day,’ thereby ensuring that Fraser and his significant other would be separated from each other when Fraser was kidnapped.”
The extent of Miske’s criminal network was also revealed during the trial.
The crime boss has owned contracting, auto, and fishing companies since at least the 1990s, and ads for his extermination business, Kama’aina Termite & Pest Control, aired frequently on Oahu.
In addition to residential properties, he also owned the glitzy M nightclub, later renamed “Encore.”
During his trial, he was also accused of orchestrating crimes that included murder-for-hire, robbery, the kidnapping of a 72-year-old accountant who owed a debt, and the release of a toxic chemical into a rival’s nightclub.
“In or about March 2017, Miske and others conspired to release a chemical weapon, namely, chloropicrin, into nightclubs in Honolulu, Hawaii. As part of this conspiracy, chloropicrin was released into two different nightclubs,” according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Miske’s conviction allowed the government to seize $28 million of his assets, which included boats, homes, and artwork.
About a dozen Miske’s associates were also implicated in his various charges.
Before his death this week, the crime boss was set to appear in front of a judge for his sentencing in January and was facing up to life in prison.
With Post wires
