HONOLULU -- Wednesday's fatal shooting at the Pali Golf Course was the result of a dispute about protection for gambling operations on Oahu, sources told KITV 4 News. Law enforcement sources tell KITV 4 News that one of the suspects is believed to control most of the illegal gambling operations in Waianae.

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All six men involved in the shooting had been at a funeral just up Kamehameha Highway at Hawaiian Memorial Park.

"They left a funeral that was being held across the street. They met in the parking lot. There was an argument, and some guns were pulled out and shots were fired," Honolulu police Lt. Bill Kato said.

The three shooting victims had been providing protection for about a half dozen Oahu gambling operations, but had not been paid for a number of weeks or months, sources told KITV 4 News.

The group met at the Pali Golf Course to demand payment from Rodney Joseph Jr., 35, who law enforcement sources say controls "a lot of gambling in Waianae," sources said.

Kato would only say, "We're looking into that right now. It hasn't been confirmed at this point."

Joseph is a kickboxer. His criminal background includes 12 felony convictions for terroristic threatening and burglary in the mid 1990s.

A second suspect is Joseph's cousin, Ethan Motta, 34, who's suspected of being one of the gunmen. Police bagged his hands for ballistic tests after arresting him at the airport, where he was trying to catch a flight to the Big Island, where he lives.

Motta was charged with 10 counts of promoting gambling after a raid in Hilo in 2000. The indictment was later thrown out on a technicality, but the Big Island prosecutor told KITV 4 News he plans to re-indict Motta in that case.

The third suspect is Nixon Melino Maumalanga, 30. He's had just two speeding violations on his record from 1994.