The Mailbox Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Greatest Corruption Case in Hawaii History

When Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, the city's deputy prosecutor, reported their mailbox stolen to frame a family member, it was only the beginning of an elaborate conspiracyand a corruption case that soon became the most notorious in Hawaii history. Riveting and meticulously told by the federal defender who learned the story from the inside, The Mailbox Conspiracy is a fascinating study in the corruption of power and the abuse of public office. Author Alexander Silvert, a federal public defender, took on Kealoha family member Gerard Puana's felony theft case mostly out of curiosity: Why would someone steal a mailbox, especially one belonging to prominent law enforcement figures like the chief of police and a city prosecutor? And why was the United States Attorney's Office involved in such a low-level neighborhood theft case? Puana, his client, claimed not just innocence, but that he had been framed. As Silvert and his team began to peel away layer after layer of Puana's story, it became clear that the allegations and the evidence didnt line up. Infamous for each new stranger-than-fiction revelation, the so-called "Kealoha mailbox trial" unearthed a chain of bumbling coverups, multiple instances of financial fraud stretching back a decade, and an alleged family drug trafficking enterpriseall served up with a generous helping of arrogance on the part of Louis and Katherine Kealoha. A tenacious defense attorney with decades of experience, Silvert led the team of investigators who painstakingly unearthed evidence to prove Gerard Puana's innocence. Their seven-year effort turned the tables on the Kealohas, resulting in the couple's federal prosecution, and the ramificationsand legal wranglingof the case continue today.