Louis Looks Back

The Rise and Fall of Honolulu’s Top Cop

As the curious case of a stolen mailbox grew into the biggest corruption scandal in Hawai‘i’s history, the story of police chief Louis Kealoha and his high-ranking city prosecutor wife, Katherine, riveted the Islands with its revelations of fraud and abuse of power. Now serving time in federal prison, Louis Kealoha speaks publicly for the first time to journalist Mary Zanakis about his once-promising career and his fall from grace.

“I’ve decided to talk now because this is my opportunity to have a voice,” Kealoha told Zanakis. “Prior to this I hadn’t said anything. I chose not to talk because the story wasn’t finished, and I really didn’t have a good handle on everything that was going on. Now, I feel this is a good time.”

Zanakis acknowledges that while this tale of deceit and deception at the highest levels of law enforcement is Louis’s side of the story, it is no defense, nor does the former top cop benefit financially from the book’s sales. “My only expectation was that he tell the truth,” she says. “I told him that people would know—that they can sense when someone is lying. I also told him that if he wasn’t able to dig down deep and lay it all on the table, he shouldn’t do the interviews.”

A news reporter in Hawai‘i for nearly thirty years, Mary Zanakis grew up in Kailua, O‘ahu, where she attended the public schools. As a reporter at KHON-TV and KITV, she covered federal and state courts, the police, and health news. In 1983 she debuted and anchored the Channel 2 Morning News along with Courtney Harrington. Zanakis's unique relationship with the Kealoha family—Katherine Kealoha is her first cousin once removed—allowed her to delve deep into their personal lives for an intimate look at the events with an insider's perspective.

Softcover, 216 pp.
Author: Mary Zanakis
Release Date: August 2023

Available in e-book format!