HONOLULU — A man who once worked for convicted crime boss Michael J. Miske Jr. is being moved to another facility after gangs assaulted him three times in the past four months, allegedly for testifying against his former employer, according to federal court documents.
Jacob L. “Jake” Smith will be “transported to another facility in short order,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Myers told U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield during a hearing Monday, according to federal court documents.
Mansfield denied Smith’s attorney’s request that he be put under house arrest with electronic monitoring at his parents’ house.
Miske was convicted July 18 of 13 criminal charges related to running an organized crime ring, including murder and being part of a racketeering conspiracy. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 26.
The Federal Detention Center, Honolulu, has three housing modules for men, Miske is housed in one and Smith in another, wrote Smith’s attorney, Louis Michael Ching, in a July 23 federal filing asking the court to release Smith to house arrest.
During the past year, Miske and “Bronson Gouveia were communicating frequently,” wrote Smith’s attorney in a July 23 court filing. Gouveia allegedly controls the Murder Inc. gang members, and Miske was housed in another module with the “younger group of the WestSide gang members.”
Gouveia has been imprisoned since 2018 and accused of federal firearm and drug violations in connection with the alleged Dec. 23, 2018, shooting of his girlfriend.
Miske was able to create a “loyal following of WestSide Gang members,” according to court documents.
“Michael Miske was able to have discovery materials passed to (Smith’s prison module) whenever an inmate was moved from (the other male modules). These materials were designed to be inflammatory to other inmates in (Smith’s module), because they showed that Defendant Smith was a cooperating witness or ‘rat’ for the government,” Ching wrote.
Smith cooperated with the U.S. Department of Justice on 15 occasions before Miske’s trial started, according to court records, and spent six days on the stand as a government witness.
“The FDC cannot deny that Mr. Miske has the influence over 2 separate violent gangs, to wit, Murder, Inc. through Bronson Gouveia, and WestSide Gang, which is closely associated with Murder, Inc.,” wrote Ching in a motion asking the court to release Smith to house arrest with his parents as guardians. “There’s no where safe in (federal prison facilities) for Defendant Smith.”
On April 10, the last day of trial preparation for Smith, inmate Dane Kaneakua “provoked a physical altercation with Defendant Smith for testifying against Mike Miske,” according to federal court records.
On May 30, Smith was allegedly “assaulted from behind in a vicious manner by inmate Devin Viela, who is purportedly a member of Murder, Inc.” Smith did not fight back and suffered injuries to his head, neck and wrists.
The third time Smith was assaulted in custody came July 20, two days after Miske was found guilty. That assault was reportedly “ordered” by alleged WestSide Gang leader Edward Caspino, according to court documents. Caspino, 46, allegedly leads a Waianae-based gang that manages chicken fighting, illegal game rooms and methamphetamine sales.
“Caspino had been sitting and socially talking with Defendant Smith when the two Westside Gang soldiers” viciously attacked and blindsided Defendant Smith from behind with punches and kicks to his head and body,” wrote Ching.
Caspino stood up and walked away while Smith was beaten, Ching alleged in his court filing.
