Customer Reviews

Small Prices

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book makes you definitely think twice about going on vacation. And how Hawaii can be so cosmetic in appearance. While I was reading this novel it gave me chills to think that "Easy Eddie" exists. You would never think that a place like Hawaii would have organized crime like that. Just another fabulous book by the man himself, Justice Hawk. Thanks Hawk.

This book is awesome. There is massive corruption in both government and private sector in Hawaii and this book brings it to the forefront where any reader - even elementary level - can understand it and in total shock. Some of the scenes are a little graphic with sexual overtones. If you have been the victim of corruption, this book is for you.

People will go to jail over this novel. There is no statute of limitations on contract murder. The drug trafficking operation is too detailed to be fiction. I felt I was the plaintiff in the lawyer's office discussing the intricacies of the huge real estate scam. The detail in this novel is awesome! This book dissects Honolulu's criminal elements. Bravo!

End of July 04 Update

A senior executive for a large engineering firm, earlier fined for making illegal campaign contributions to the Honolulu Mayor (D), admitted in court to "complying with a '50-year, long standing tradition' of making illegal contributions to the Democratic Party (bankrolling politicians) in return for preferential treatment in bidding for city contracts. The president of this same company pleaded "no contest" to felony money laundering charges. The senior executive was fined $2,000.00 and given a one year suspended jail sentence. A State Senator (D) was fined $21,000.00 for using campaign funds for personal expenses. Another State Senator (D) is under investigation for funneling campaign funds into her husband's Chinatown drug deals. A State Liquor Commissioner, and former State Deputy Sheriff, has been sentenced to 20 months in a federal prison for bribery, extortion and racketeering. He joins seven other Liquor Commissioners. Eleven "hostile and confrontational" locals charged with rampaging a campground near public beach in which 50 campers were assaulted and terrorized. Three campers required medical attention. A City Wastewater Treatment Plant Supervisor was indicted for bribery and theft.

From the Author Mid-July 04 Update

A Native Hawaiian activist group that commandeered a large tract of land on Oahu's north shore and subsequently forced a lease agreement with the state of Hawaii has "drawn a line in the sand" over the state's attempt to recover the land for lease violations. The leader of the activist group is a former muscle-lieutenant for a north shore godfather of cocaine trafficking who was nabbed by authorities during an international drug exchange in Waikiki.

The Big Island of Hawai'i described in the novel has more than 1,000 felony fugitives according to the U. S. Marshals Service. Some 98 were arrested in a recent one-week sweep. The Marshals Service claims to have some 4,000 unserved felony warrants for this island alone. With a population of some 100,000 people, crime is an occupation plaguing Hawai'i.

With the assistance of federal funds, the Attorney General for the state of Hawaii has created a Cold Case Unit in order to resolve old, unsolved criminal cases. When the Attorney General requested the Cold Case Files from the Honolulu Police Department, the Honolulu Police Department refused to provide the Attorney General any of their files, citing their own cold case investigative unit. Apparently, the Honolulu Police Department's preference for "choosing not to investigate" has reached similar epidemic proportions as the Hawaii State Supreme Court's case backlog. Political interference continues to move in mysterious ways.

The Honolulu newspapers revealed the secrecy-laden system of the Judicial Selection Committee in which "confidentiality" is preferred over accountability with regard to rating and dismissing jurists. Judges are nudged off the bench without any clue as to the reason why their careers are ending. Political interference, as described in the novel, works in mysterious ways. Four Hawaiian Homestead men were sentenced to between one and ten years in prison for the brutal beating of a white man at a public beach park abutting a Hawaiian Homestead area (described in the novel as dangerous to non-Hawaiians). As the story goes, the white man pleaded to buy a pitbull pup from one of the involved Hawaiian Homestead men attempting to drown the animal at the public beach. The Hawaiian Homestead man got enraged, left the scene, came back with three other Hawaiian Homestead men (one on furlough from a seventeen-year federal sentence for his involvement in a crystal methamphetamine ring), cut the white man's face, broke eight of his ribs and left him to the elements on the beach. After beating the white man, the Hawaiian Homestead men retrieved the pup and killed it. They received a six-month jail sentence for cruelty to animals. When visiting Hawaii, remember: White man, don't let the sun go down on you around the Hawaiian Homestead lands.

A few weeks after receiving a copy of Small Prices, the CEO of the bank that contained the vault with organized crime's jewelry robbery loot, the Murder for Hire Gang's police-cleansed firearms and other underworld trafficking items, suddenly sold over US $25 Million worth of his shares in the national bank. Former Chairperson of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and CEO of one of the civil engineering firms that produced questionable land surveys, described in the novel, along with the current President of the company recently have pleaded "no contest" to charges of making illegal campaign contributions to the Honolulu Mayor. Honolulu newspapers have revealed that nearly 30 retired police officers collecting full pensions are employed as investigators with the state's Attorney General's Office under the "Work 89 days, quit for one day, then rehire for 89 days" employment dance. Also, enjoying this employment dance, as head of a state department, is none other than the police chief associated with questionable activities in the novel

After recently having acquired an new four-year contract until 2008 from the Police Commission, the Honolulu Police Chief suddenly announced his retirement. The week before the Police Chief's announcement, the former head of the White Collar Crime Task Force, in office during the time frame of this novel, suddenly announced his retirement.