Updated at 6:22 p.m., Thursday, November 8, 2007
Guilty verdict rendered in Hawaii gambling trial
Advertiser Staff
"There is organized crime in Hawai'i," a federal prosecutor said after Robert H. Kaialau III was convicted this afternoon on four counts of racketeering violence related to control of illegal gambling games here.Kaialau, 37, faces up to 80 years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Ezra on March 24.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Brady, who prosecuted Kaialau, said after the verdict, "The federal government will confront organized crime and we will defeat it."
He praised the work of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms in investigating the case against Kaialau and 10 other co-defendants originally charged in the case.
"But as usual, the heavy lifting was done by the Honolulu Police Department, especially the Criminal Intelligence Unit," Brady said.
Defense attorney Rustam Barbee declined comment.
