Ethan "Malu" Motta was sentenced yesterday to life in federal prison without parole, almost six years after he and two others murdered two men and critically injured a third in a violent underworld dispute over control of illegal gambling games in the Islands.

Motta, 41, declined to make a statement before U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway.

His lawyer, Richard Pafundi, called the sentencing a "somber occasion" and said he will "vigorously" pursue an appeal of the conviction, centering on why the trial was held in federal court rather than state court.

Mollway said Motta committed "horrible crimes" and held "a very high position in the criminal underworld hierarchy."

Motta was convicted of two charges of committing murder in support of criminal racketeering — punishable by a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

Mollway noted that she had no choice in the sentence, although she earlier rejected a plea deal reached by Motta and co-defendants Rodney Joseph Jr. and Kevin "Pancho" Gonsalves with federal prosecutors that called for sentences of 27 1/2 years behind bars.

Mollway rejected the plea agreements because, she said, she did not think the defendants had provided sufficient cooperation with authorities to qualify for the reduced sentences.

Gonsalves later pleaded guilty before trial, and Mollway did sentence him to 27 1/2 years in prison, telling him, "You appear to have had more of a soldier's role in the organization than Mr. Motta or Mr. Joseph."

Joseph and Motta chose to fight the charges and were found guilty in March after a monthlong jury trial.

They lured members of a rival underworld faction to a midday meeting in the parking lot of the Pali Golf Course on Jan. 7, 2004, and shot to death Lepo Utu Taliese, 44, and Romilius Corpuz Jr., 40. Motta also shot Tinoimalu Sao, 47, in the head with a silenced .22-caliber handgun.

Sao recovered and returned to testify against Motta and Joseph this year.

Utu named Motta and Joseph as his assailants in a declaration delivered as he lay mortally wounded on the golf course.

Mollway remarked that Motta is "extremely intelligent and well-educated" and "exercised considerable influence and control" over criminal activities on O'ahu even though he was living on the Big Island.

Motta graduated from the University of Hawai'i-Hilo and served as student body president there.

Prosecution witnesses testified during the trial that Motta was the nephew of former Hawai'i organized crime figure Charley Stevens of Wai'anae and planned to rebuild Stevens' criminal empire.

Stevens died in federal prison in 1999 while serving a 20-year racketeering sentence.

Co-defendant Rodney Joseph also was a nephew of Stevens.

A principal prosecution witness in the trial was Motta's cousin, Jonnaven Monalim, who worked with the FBI to secretly tape-record a lengthy conversation between the two men in October 2004 on the Big Island.

Monalim alleged that Motta bragged about having a state judge "in his pocket," but federal authorities later said no evidence was discovered to support that allegation.

Monalim and another main witness against Motta and Joseph, Dennis Tadio, both admitted that they are suspected of committing federal crimes including drug trafficking and money laundering, but neither has so far been charged with those offenses.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Eliot Enoki said outside court yesterday that he did not know the status of the cases against Tadio and Monalim.

Enoki commented on the lengthy delays in prosecuting the racketeering case but said the prosecution demonstrated the Justice Department's commitment to fighting organized crime in Hawai'i.

The case originally was charged in state court, but federal authorities assumed jurisdiction in 2006.

It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Brady, who read a letter in court written by Margie Corpuz, the widow of one of the murder victims and sister of the other.

The letter, which Brady also read at the sentencings of Joseph and Gonsalves, said the murders "were cold, callous, cruel and calculating" and caused her life to spiral down into drug and alcohol abuse.

"In my heart, I live with the loneliness and emptiness of being without my husband," Corpuz wrote. "He was my rock, my world," the letter said.