Abettor in conspiracy says she wanted out

A 50-year-old woman testified Friday she became fearful a year into helping prepare fraudulent tax returns and shuttling money, drugs and cigarettes for inmates who are members of Hawaii’s largest prison gang.

"I just got scared I was getting too deep into helping them, and I wanted out," Melisa George Gonzaga told a jury in U.S. District Court in Honolulu on Friday, so she said she began in 2010 keeping a detailed log of transactions, amounts of money and her activities for the USO Family.

Gonzaga, two former gang members, two federal agents and a gang member’s sister, testified as government witnesses Friday in a racketeering conspiracy trial that exposes the inner workings of the USO Family, a powerful prison gang that got its start at the Halawa Correctional Facility.

The gang spread to the mainland, becoming a nationally recognized major prison gang, the government said in its Sept. 12, 2013, indictment of 18 defendants, 16 of whom have pleaded guilty.

The only two who have not admitted guilt are Feso Malufau, a former Halawa guard, on trial for racketeering conspiracy, and accused of accepting bribes for smuggling in drugs and cigarettes, and Tineimalo "Ghost" Adkins, on trial for violent crimes aiding racketeering and accused of leading a violent gang attack on a fellow Halawa inmate.

Gonzaga identified Malufau in the courtroom as the man she knew as "Uncle," also identified as "Blackie."

She testified she would meet Malufau in Kaneohe on his way to work, and pass him "pakalolo," methamphetamine and cigarettes.

Malufau’s attorney Barry Edwards asked Gonzaga, about her meth use, which she said she ended three months ago, and that she also received $5,400 from the state Drug Enforcement Administration for being an informant.

Gonzaga testified her friend Robin Lee, a defendant, asked Gonzaga to help the inmates. Lee provided the information to fill in the tax forms.

Another witness Shontel Jones, the sister of defendant Opherro Jones, described her role in helping her brother by doing "whatever my brother told me to do with the money," including dealings with "Uncle."

But unlike Gonzaga, she was not asked to identify Malufau, since she is partially blind and cannot recognize faces.

Jones, 31, said that in 2010, her brother asked her to meet with various people, including "Melisa," who would give her money, or she would give them cash, and would also receive Western Union wired funds of up to $200. "Uncle" would come to pick up cash and Camel cigarettes she would place in a paper bag.

She said Lee also walked her through preparing her brother’s tax returns.

Former USO member Michael Jay, 36, serving 20 years for armed robbery, was being held in the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu from a federal penitentiary. He acknowledged in court to testifying for a chance at a possible reduction in his sentence.

He identified Malufau as "Blackie," the guard, who in 2010 was the Module 2 sergeant "bringing in the stuff."

On one occasion, Malufau popped Jay’s cell door open, and he went to the guard’s office where he had "an 8-ball or two" of ice (3.5 grams or an eighth of an ounce) hidden under a plate lunch. Jay said he "scarfed" the food because "it’s like a treat."

Underneath the food, wrapped in cellophane, were the drugs. Malufau weighed it on a small digital scale, and Jay stashed it in his pants.

Jay said he was aware Malufau smuggled in drugs once or twice a week while he was there in 2009 and 2010.

He estimated USO made $1,000 to $2,000 a week on drugs and cigarettes.

Jay joined USO at Halawa in 2001 or 2002, and left two years ago. He described the initiation as having to "smash people, beat people up, bring in drugs."

Jay served mostly as a soldier, cleaning up messes, and if "another group comes in, we smash ’em," he said.

While in the Federal Detention Center, he became a shot-caller, taking "the reins because I didn’t want any more violence," and trying to prevent young members from unnecessary "gang-banging."

He also testified that Lee, "the tax man, the money man," prepared his taxes and Jay once got a $1,300 tax refund, butadmitted false information was used. He later learned returns were later filed on his behalf but the refunds went to USO, not him.

William Woods, 38, another former USO member, said Adkins recruited him in 2000 and Woods left the gang a couple of years ago.

He noted the USO code comes in part from the biblical character, Ruth, who vowed words similar to the USO code: "Where you will go I will go; where you lay, I will lay and where you die I will die."

Woods said he left the gang because he heard talk in Eloy, Ariz., of USO killings, and didn’t want to spend his life in prison.

Woods testified Malufau was involved from 2009 to 2011, starting once a week with two balls of ice, then grew to "four balls, 2 ounces of weed and two cartons of cigarettes."

Malufau set the price, charging $500 for a ball, $400 for a carton of cigarettes and $500 for an undisclosed amount of weed.

IRS Special Agent Mark MacPherson testified Malufau and his wife owned three houses, and their expenditures exceeded their income in 2007.

The trial continues Tuesday.