The nuts and bolts of the illegal gambling business in Hawai'i were on display this week in the federal racketeering and murder trial of Rodney Joseph Jr. and Ethan "Malu" Motta.

Witnesses described a world devoid of the glamour and glitz of Las Vegas: makeshift "game rooms" with baccarat and blackjack tables slapped together from two-by-fours and plywood sheets; mostly Asian customers placing wagers after knocking off work at hostess bars; and "security" crews of Hawaiian and Samoan men who protected the games, mostly from competing security crews.

The various game rooms — in Pearl City, on Kalakaua Avenue, Kapi'olani Boulevard, Rycroft Street and elsewhere — were financed by mostly Chinese immigrants and were each staffed by a manager, dealers, a cashier, a kitchen "mama san" and a bank "mama san" (available for short- term, high-interest cash advances to customers), witnesses said. The games changed locations frequently and operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Witness after witness spoke of three different groups vying with each other to "protect" the underground game rooms. One was headed by Robert Kaialau, a former nightclub bouncer who's more than 6 feet 5 and weighed in excess of 300 pounds, and who liked to describe himself as "the godfather" and a descendant of King Kamehameha the Great. Kaialau is serving a 20-year prison term in the federal maximum security prison in Marion, Ill., following his racketeering conviction last year.

Another group was headed by Joseph and Motta, nephews of former Leeward O'ahu organized crime boss Charles Kapela Stevens, according to various witness in the trial.

The third was headed by a quartet of four Samoan men, Peter Matautia, Matthew Taufetee, Joe Scanlan White and Faimafili Lulu. All have pleaded guilty to federal gambling charges and all are prosecution witnesses in the trial of Joseph and Motta.

In testimony yesterday, White denied accusations from Joseph's lawyer, Reginald Minn, that he is running protection at all the game rooms now in operation on O'ahu.

"You're still running gambling in this town, right?" Minn asked him.

"No, sir," said White, 37.

White said he worked for 18 years as a truck driver at Hawaii Transfer but lost that job last August and hasn't worked since.

White confirmed earlier testimony from other witnesses that in late 2003, security guards working at game rooms for Joseph and Motta were unhappy about low pay or lack of pay from Joseph and decided in a meeting Jan. 4, 2004, that things had to change.

Two groups of the unhappy guards — almost all of them Samoan — went to game rooms on Kalakaua Avenue and Kona Street early that morning and took over security from Joseph's men, according to White and earlier testimony from Taufetee and others.

Three men who had been working for Joseph — Lepo Utu Taliese, Romilius Corpuz Jr. and Tinoimalo Sao — changed allegiances and joined the group headed by White and his three partners, various witnesses said.

Three days later, on the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2004, Joseph, Motta and Kevin "Pancho" Gonsalves allegedly shot Taliese and Corpuz to death and critically wounded Sao with a .22 caliber gunshot to the face.

The shootings took place in the parking lot and on the grounds of the Pali municipal golf course.

The trial resumes Wednesday in federal court and Sao, who recovered from his wounds but still carries bullet fragments in his head, is expected to testify.