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THE YAKUZA: PINKYLESS AND TATTOOED


A LOOK INTO JAPAN'S MURKY UNDERWORLD


YAMAGUCHI-GUMI

Shinobu Tsukasa, aka Kenichi Shinoda, kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi. © AFP/Getty
Images

The Rokudaime Yamaguchi-gumi, or sixth Yamaguchi-gumi is the world’s largest
Yakuza organization. According to the National Police Agency, as of 2014 the
Yamaguchi-gumi has 10300 active members, 13100 associate members, totaling at
23400 members, roughly 44% of the Yakuza population.[i] According to Fortune
Magazine, it is the world’s largest organized crime syndicate and second in
revenue ($6.6 Billion).[ii] The current kumicho is Shinobu Tsukasa, also known
as Kenichi Shinoda.

Harukichi Yamaguchi founded the Yamaguchi-gumi in 1916. It began as a union of
local Kobe fishermen, and it wasn’t until the third kumicho, Taoka Kazuo, that
the gang transformed into the global organization it is today.[iii] Kazuo
entered the gang as a boxer, and helped to restore the organization after it
fell apart during WWII.[iv] Under Kazuo, the Yamaguchi-gumi expanded its
operations to include extortion, labor racketeering, gambling, prostitution,
loansharking, smuggling, and many other legal and illegal activities. However,
Kazuo disdained drug use and forbid the Yamaguchi-gumi from dealing in drugs.[v]
He even founded an organization dedicated to the eradication of amphetamines.
The Yamaguchi-gumi The current kumicho, Tsukasa, also shares his sentiment, and
even today members are forbidden from dealing in drugs.[vi] That being said,
most of the Yamaguchi-gumi’s revenue is said to come from drug trafficking.[vii]

Tadamasa Goto, the 4th kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi, is one of the most famous
gangsters in the world, and arguably the most famous yakuza. Known among US
law-enforcement officials as the “John Gotti of Japan”, Goto was a new breed of
yakuza. The old guard tended to shy away from violent criminal activities,
living by a strict code of ethics. Goto, on the other hand, was ruthless and had
no problem with going after civilians.[viii] Like many yakuza, the hard and fast
lifestyle eventually caught up with Goto, and he required a liver transplant.
Culturally, organ transplants are very scarce in Japan, and Goto was forced to
look overseas to the US.[ix] However, his criminal record and reputation
prevented him from entering the country. So he made a deal with the FBI, who
offered to grant him a special visa in exchange for vital information on yakuza
operations. Goto, with three other cronies in need of a liver, then donated
hundreds of thousands of dollars to UCLA Medical Center and proceeded to
hopscotch the line for liver transplants.[x] The process, which can take years,
took Goto only six weeks. Following the liver transplant, Goto immediately
returned to Japan, allegedly giving the FBI much less information than they had
been expecting.[xi] This scandal was exposed in 2008 by Jake Adelstein, a former
writer for the Yomiuri newspaper and an expert in the Japanese criminal
underworld. Most recently, Goto published Habakarinagara (“With all due
respect”), his memoirs of life as a yakuza. In it, he makes a veiled threat
towards Adelstein. To this day, Adelstein lives under protective custody in
Tokyo.[xii]

The Yamaguchi-gumi was founded in Kobe, and has traditionally operated in that
region. These past few years, Shinobu Tsukasa has been expanding operations in
Tokyo, angering the traditionally western groups of the Yamaguchi-gumi. Tensions
hit a high when more than a dozen groups split from the Yamaguchi-gumi,
protesting what they viewed as Tsukasa’s preferential treatment of the Kodo-kai,
a Nagoya-based affiliate founded by Tsukasa in 1984.[xiii] The Yamaguchi-gumi
cancelled their annual trick-or-treat, a neighborhood event meant to both foster
community and shine a good light on the yakuza, likely due to the split.[xiv]
This past November, Tatsuyuki Hishida was found tied up and bludgeoned to death
in front of his home. Hishida was the head of a member group in the
Yamaguchi-gumi.[xv]



A similar split occurred in 1984, when Masahisa Takenaka was chosen as a
successor to Kasuo. Hiroshi Yamamoto, another contender for the kumicho
position, split from the Yamaguchi-gumi with roughly 3,000 soldiers to form the
Ichiwa-kai. An all-out war broke out when the Ichiwa-kai assassinated Takenaka
and a wakagashira (lieutenant) Katsuma Nakayama.[xvi] Over 20 gangsters were
killed, and hundreds more were arrested.[xvii] The war ended with a peace treaty
arbitrated by the Inagawa-kai, involving Yamamoto’s retirement and the resorbing
of the Ichiwa-kai.

The Yamaguchi-gumi is a government designated “boryokudan” (criminal
organization), which places members and associates on various watch lists,
preventing them from taking out loans, renting apartments etc… There have been
various spats of violence between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Sumiyoshi-kai, a
Tokyo-based yakuza organization. In 2007, a senior member of the Sumiyoshi-kai
was assassinated by the Yamaguchi-gumi, and shots were exchanged between the
gangs. Also in 2007, Tetsuya Shiroo, a senior member in the Yamaguchi-gumi,
assassinated Nagasaki mayor Iccho Itoh.[xviii] Shiroo was angered the Nagasaki
government refused to finance a construction firm with connections to the gang.

[i]日本. 警察庁. 暴力団対策. 平成２6年の暴力団情勢. 警察庁組織犯罪対策部, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.

[ii]Matthews, Chris. “The Biggest Organized Crime Groups in the World.” Fortune.
Fortune, 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[iii] “山口組 (やまぐちぐみ) とは – NAVER まとめ.” NAVER まとめ. NAVER まとめ, 05 Feb. 2015. Web. 14
Dec. 2015.

[iv] “Taoka Kazuo | Japanese Crime Boss.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[v] Adelstein, Jake, and Nathalie Kyoto Stucky. “Japan’s Biggest Organized Crime
Syndicate Now Has Its Own Web Site and Theme Song | VICE News.” VICE News. Vice
News, 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[vi] Adelstein, Jake. “It’s Not Easy Being a Yakuza Boss.” The Wire. The
Atlantic Monthly Group, 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[vii] Matthews, Chris. “The Biggest Organized Crime Groups in the World.”
Fortune. Fortune, 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[viii] Hessler, Peter. “All Due Respect.” The New Yorker. Condé Nast, 09 Jan.
2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[ix] “Yakuza: Japan’s Not-So-Secret Mafia.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 01 Nov.
2009. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[x] Doyle, Leonard. “FBI Helped Japanese Gangster to Have Life-saving Transplant
in US.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 30 May 2008. Web.
15 Dec. 2015.

[xi] “Yakuza: Japan’s Not-So-Secret Mafia.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 01 Nov.
2009. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[xii] Hessler, Peter. “All Due Respect.” The New Yorker. Condé Nast, 09 Jan.
2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[xiii] McCurry, Justin. “Japanese Police Bracing for Gang War as Yamaguchi-gumi
Mafia Group Splits.” MSN. The Guardian, 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[xiv] “Trick or Treat? Yamaguchi-gumi Cancels Annual Halloween Event amid Yakuza
Strife | The Japan Times.” Japan Times. The Japan Times LTD., 21 Oct. 2015. Web.
15 Dec. 2015.

[xv] Ap, Tiffany, and Yoko Wakatsuki. “Japan Yakuza Gang Boss Found Bludgeoned
to Death.” CNN. Cable News Network, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[xvi] “Yamaguchi-gumi : The past and the Present of Yakuza.” TOKYO Ezine. TOKYO
Ezine, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

[xvii] McCurry, Justin. “Japanese Police Bracing for Gang War as Yamaguchi-gumi
Mafia Group Splits.” MSN. The Guardian, 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.



[xviii] “Gangster Guns down Nagasaki Mayor during Closing Days of Campaign – AJW
by The Asahi Shimbun.” AJW. The Asahi Shimbun Company, 17 Apr. 2007. Web. 15
Dec. 2015.

 





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