Four men were arrested on warrants over the weekend bringing to 10 the total number of people in federal custody charged in connection with what prosecutors describe as a violent organized crime and gambling operation.

Raymond Gomes Jr., Joe White, Peter Matautia and Matthew Taufetee were being held at the Federal Detention Center and will make their initial appearance today before a magistrate. All were indicted in February, but the indictment was sealed until yesterday.

Gomes is charged with two counts of racketering connected to an illegal gambling business and a firearms offense. White, Matautia and Taufetee are charged with one count each of participating in an illegal gambling business.

The joint investigation leading to the arrests involved the Honolulu police criminal intelligence unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI.

Federal officials confirmed yesterday the indictment is tied to earlier ones that led to the arrests of Rodney Joseph Jr., Kevin "Poncho" Gonsalves, Ethan Motta, Kai Ming Wang, Faimafili Lulu and Siaosi Alapati.

Ed Kubo, the U.S. attorney in Hawai'i, said earlier this year that Wang, a Chinatown restaurant manager also known as "A Fook," headed a criminal organization that used extortion, robbery and the 2004 double murder at the Pali Golf Course to protect gambling interests from 1999 to 2004. Wang pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges in April.

Joseph, Gonsalves and Motta are charged in state court with murdering Lepo Utu Taliese and Romilius Corpuz and trying to murder Tinoimalu Sao on Jan. 7, 2004. Their trial before Circuit Judge Michael Town has been moved from this month to early 2007.

Joseph, Gonsalves and Motta, who are accused in federal court of being part of an illegal enterprise and the shooting deaths at Pali Golf Course, could face a maximum sentence of either life behind bars or the death penalty.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.