Miske Enterprise member, Bermudez sentenced to 30 years in federal prison

Acting United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Lance L. Bermudez, 34, of Honolulu was sentenced Monday in federal court by US District Chief Judge Derrick K. Watson to 360 months of imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, racketeering, conspiracy and Hobbs Act Robbery.

Bermudez is the last defendant to be sentenced for his role in the Miske Enterprise. As part of his 2022 plea agreement, Bermudez admitted that he and other members of the Enterprise participated in a murder-for-hire conspiracy with co-defendant Michael J. Miske and other Enterprise members, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Miske put a murder contract out on an individual he believed was cooperating with law enforcement.

Bermudez agreed to commit the murder for $60,000 and laid in wait outside of the victim’s home on multiple occasions, waiting for the right opportunity to kill the victim, according to the US Department of Justice. The murder did not ultimately occur because Miske eventually rescinded the contract.

According to a US Attorney’s Office, District of Hawaiʻi news release, Bermudez admitted to the following:

• Taking part in multiple attempted murders where he shot victims from his vehicle.
• Burning a van at Miske’s direction that Bermudez later discovered was utilized in the abduction and murder of 21-year-old Johnathan Fraser.
• Committing several armed robberies of Honolulu area drug dealers and then selling the stolen drugs to others in the community.

Bermudez was charged alongside 12 other defendants, all of whom pled guilty except for Michael J. Miske who proceeded to trial and was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, murder, and 11 other felony charges on July 18, 2024. Seven other members and associates of the Miske Enterprise pled guilty to various offenses in related cases.

“You terrorized this city and this county to a greater extent than anyone I can remember,” Judge Watson advised Bermudez during the sentencing before reciting the litany of racketeering acts for which the Court found Bermudez responsible.

Judge Watson called out the “brazenness” and “unprecedented” nature of Bermudez’s acts of violence, noting that he had never seen the same level of violence even collectively among multiple coconspirators that here was attributed solely to Bermudez.

“For his grisly work in pummeling victims with his fists, Lance Bermudez was coined with the nickname, ‘The Hammah.’ US District Chief Judge Derrick Watson sentenced him to a lengthy 30-year sentence for his violent role in promoting the nefarious and illicit activities of the Miske organization. Bermudez’s sentence is the final one to be handed down against the members of the Miske Enterprise and is the capstone of our investigation into the violent and corrupt activities of Michael Miske and his henchmen,” said Acting US Attorney Ken Sorenson.

He continued: “Our decade-long effort with our outstanding law enforcement partners has now resulted in the federal convictions of 20 Miske confederates who now can no longer victimize Hawaiʻi’s citizens and communities. While the work against the Miske Enterprise is done, the people of Hawaiʻi can rest assured that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaiʻi and our dedicated and resolute law enforcement partners at the Honolulu Division of the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, and Homeland Security Investigations, among others, will continue to tirelessly hunt down and prosecute those who operate violent criminal enterprises in our state and endanger our citizens.”

This prosecution was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation.