Who was Mike Miske Jr and what happened to one of Hawaii’s most notorious crime figures?
One of Hawaii’s most infamous criminals was Michael Miske Jr., a well-known Honolulu businessman.
On December 1, 2024, the crime boss was discovered dead at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu; according to sources, he committed suicide.
The 50-year-old Michael J. Miske Jr. was scheduled to be sentenced in 2025.
He was convicted of planning the murder of his son’s best friend, Jonathan Fraser, in 2016.
Miske was driven by a desire for revenge for what the authorities claimed was the crime boss’s false suspicion that Fraser was the driver of the vehicle that killed Miske’s son, Caleb-Jordan Miske-Lee.
Kidnapping & murder
Nothing more exemplifies Miske’s violent tendencies than his carefully thought-out and premeditated abduction, kidnapping, and murder of Jonathan Fraser in July 2016, according to a government motion to keep Miske without bail.
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Fraser, 21, lived through the November 2015 vehicle accident, but Caleb passed away from his wounds months later.
Fraser disappeared without a trace in July 2016, and almost eight years later, his remains have still not been located.
According to court documents obtained by KGMB, Miske was the mastermind behind the scheme, and it is thought that he passed sometime around July 30, 2016.
Miske was convicted of a wide range of offenses, including kidnapping and murder for hire, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Although it is unknown at this point whether the criminal boss was under suicide watch, police are investigating his death as a suicide.
The Rise of Mike Miske Jr
Miske has a decades-long criminal career.
He went from being a “street-level drug dealer” to becoming the head of the Miske Enterprise, a highly skilled organized crime group.
Before he began earning more and more money, Miske was just a street-level drug dealer in Kailua, according to Honolulu Deputy Police Chief John McCarthy.
As his empire expanded, he acquired a number of respectable companies.
Among them was Kama’aina Termite and Pest Control, a well-known fumigation business that he allegedly utilized as a front for his illicit operations.
Criminal charges
Following a protracted trial that lasted around six months, Miske was found guilty on 13 federal offenses in July 2024.
He faced numerous charges that portrayed him as part of a vicious criminal organization engaged in a wide range of illicit operations.
Investigation & trial
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Honolulu, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) all participated in the extensive multi-agency investigation into Miske’s crimes.
Mike Miske charges
Mike Miske, the head of Hawaii’s criminal underworld, was prosecuted and found guilty of a plan involving the kidnapping and murder of his son’s friend. Here is a detailed breakdown of the charges:
- Racketeering Conspiracy
- Murder in aid of racketeering
- Conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering
- Kidnapping resulting in death
- Conspiracy to commit kidnapping
- Murder-for-hire conspiracy
- Conspiracy to commit assaults in aid of racketeering
- Conspiracy to commit kidnapping
- Conspiracy to use a chemical weapon
- Use of a chemical weapon
- Use of a chemical weapon
- Obstruction of Justice
- Obstruction of Justice
With millions of documents and hours of audio and video evidence, the case against him was dubbed one of the most intricate criminal prosecutions in the nation.
Miske’s trial lasted around six months, starting in January 2024.
After his daughter-in-law and half-brother accepted plea agreements, he was put on trial by himself.
The majority of Miske’s associates struck agreements with the prosecution that involved testifying against him, and about a dozen of them were also connected to his different accusations.
Miske’s defense team presented him as a prosperous businessman who gave back to his community during the trial.
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But according to the prosecution, he was a skilled manipulator who oversaw a sizable organized crime organization.
In the end, the jury found Miske guilty, and he was given mandatory minimum life sentences for two of the crimes.
You can text Crisis Text Line at 741741, chat on 988lifeline.org, or call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 if you or someone you know is impacted by any of the concerns discussed in this story.
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