The 46-year-old alleged leader of a Waianae gang that managed chicken fighting, illegal game rooms and methamphetamine sales told federal agents he knew the identity of the government’s informant.
According to a memorandum in support of the U.S. Department of Justice’s motion to detain Edward Caspino, on Wednesday morning he allegedly made “several unsolicited statements” to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a state deputy sheriff working as a task force officer during transportation to federal court that authorities said indicate “his danger to the community.”
Caspino allegedly told law enforcement that he had access to and “might be willing to surrender several firearms in exchange for prosecutorial consideration,” including ‘AK choppers,’ which is a slang term for a type of fully-automatic rifle.
“Caspino also mentioned, again without solicitation, the cooperating individual referenced in the criminal complaint, and indicated to the agents that he believed that he knew who he or she was,” according to the memo, filed Thursday. “Caspino stated in substance that ‘You’re going to need (him/her) to testify, huh. If you can find (him/her).’ Based on the context, the statement can reasonably be interpreted as revealing Caspino’s intent to tamper with and/or intimidate a potential government witness,” it said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Albanese wrote that Caspino is charged in two separate cases with running “two different illegal gambling businesses.”
Law enforcement used a court-authorized wire interception and recorded “tens of calls between Caspino and others” in which Caspino directed the activities of the undisclosed number of game rooms and the chicken fighting operation at 87-881 Iliili Road in Waianae.
Caspino and his alleged co-conspirators “conducted, managed, supervised, directed and owned” an illegal chicken fighting operation located at the property where Caspino lived.
“As part of that business, Caspino and others ran large-scale chicken-fighting ‘derbies,’ at which hundreds of spectators would attend and bet on the chicken fights as well as other games of chance,” wrote Albanese. “Chicken fighting, by its very nature, is a brutal ‘sport,’ wherein two chickens fight with blades tied to their feet, until one has either been killed or maimed. The fights were also vastly lucrative, with the ‘house’ taking a cut of bets, admission fees, seat fees, and parking fees. Caspino is also charged with operating a number of illegal game rooms in the Waianae area. Such game rooms are a hot bed for violence.”
Albanese listed multiple TV news stories about killings and shootings at chicken fights and illegal game rooms on Oahu this year.
Some of the images from evidence gathered by federal agents “appears to be video obtained from a game room surveillance camera of a robbery and shooting” on Aug. 25, 2021, when three suspects robbed a Keeaumoku Street betting parlor and three employees got shot.
Between 1997 and 2001, Caspino allegedly committed “eight separate felonies” at the state level including burglary, robbery and car theft, and received the “benefit of a concurrent 10-year sentence to cover all counts.”
Caspino does not have a significant employment history, Albanese wrote, and as of December had filed no tax returns from 2018 to 2020 and claimed a negative income in 2021.
“Despite this lack of verifiable, legitimate income, Caspino has access to significant amounts of cash,” wrote Albanese, noting that federal agents seized more than $468,000 in cash from bank safe deposit boxes and a private residence.
“The source of this cash is very likely the illegal chicken fighting business, the illegal game room business, and/or his drug dealing,” wrote Albanese. “An undercover officer attended a chicken fight event in March 2023 and witnessed hundreds of spectators and thousands of dollars being gambled at this single event, in addition to parking fees, admission fees, and concession fees collected.”
Caspino’s access to “undocumented, undeclared cash” makes it possible for him to buy plane tickets out of Hawaii or fund “other means of evading law enforcement.”
The allegations against Caspino, whom federal prosecutors name as the leader of the “Westside” gang, are the product of a joint investigation by the DEA, the Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Coast Guard Investigative Service.
Caspino was arrested Tuesday with his brother William, 48; their mother, Lavern Joseph, 71; and Caspino’s wife, Kerilyn Keliinoi-Caspino, 31. They were indicted by a federal grand jury Oct. 26 and pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
William Caspino, Joseph, and Keliinoi-Caspino were released Wednesday on an unsecured $50,000 bond ahead of their trial Jan. 17.
Caspino is also charged in a criminal complaint with three drug sales of “one pound of methamphetamine each” for about $6,500 a pound.
“The deals were captured on audio and video recordings; accordingly, the evidence is strong,” wrote Albanese.
Albanese included screen shots from video footage seized from Caspino’s computer that allegedly shows him stomping on a patron at a game room he allegedly ran.
According to a March 11, 2021, still shot from “security camera footage from Caspino’s prior residence on Paakea Street,” Caspino “savagely kicks” an unidentified man in the head while the man is on the ground.
Caspino allegedly “repeatedly strikes him, yelling, ‘You heard?’” according to court documents.
The images were pulled from a search of Caspino’s digital data storage devices.
Other images allegedly show Caspino and his wife in a car on Sept. 6, 2020, with men who appear to be carrying guns. Another image, from May 5, 2021, shows three men standing and aiming firearms at targets while two other men assist.
During his detention hearing Friday, Caspino’s attorney, William A. Harrison, asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter for a continuance to provide time to prepare a response to the allegations outlined in the government’s motion to detain.
Reber-Porter granted a continuance until Wednesday. Caspino will remain in custody at the Federal Detention Center.
Albanese and Harrison declined comment following Friday’s hearing, which played out before a packed gallery of Caspino’s family and friends from Waianae.
Howard Unebasami and Fauston Aragon Jr. were also indicted in connection with the case.
Unebasami allegedly helped finance the acquisition of the property and looked the other way when he learned what was going on. Aragon allegedly worked at the chicken fight events “by selling access to seats close to the chicken fights and managing the clean-up crew after the completion of each fight.”
Aragon, 65, of Pearl City, and Howard Unebasami, 80, of Waianae, entered not-guilty pleas Friday in Reber-Porter’s court.
Both remain free on a $50,000 unsecured bonds ahead of trial Jan. 17.
The Oct. 26 indictment charges all six with conspiracy and the operation of an illegal gambling business.
