May K. Toney
07-03-2003, 08:08 AM
Hard-up gangsters turn
to Tokyo to flex muscles
Mainichi Shimbun
April 30, 2003
A group of yakuza in dark suits file into a second-floor cafe in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district. Regular businessmen who walk up the stairs are silently restrained and turned away by workers.
It's 4 p.m. on March 15 and the men are gathering for a Kanto-district meeting of the Yamaken-gumi, a 7,000-member section of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime syndicate.
"Don't do anything that could affect the trial of the boss, the yakuza are told." Yamaken-gumi executives, who travel from Kansai to Tokyo for these kinds of meetings, tell the yakuza the same thing every month.
The meetings are a symbol of the Yamaguchi-gumi's increasing presence in Japan's capital as the gang shifts from its traditional Kansai-area base.
Police estimate that over the past six years the gang's numbers have tripled in the Metropolitan area. Reasons for moving to Tokyo include a decline in the Kansai economy and a prolonged recession that have made business in the area difficult.
But financial troubles are not the only worries the Yamaguchi-gumi has had to deal with. Kaneyoshi Kuwata, a 63-year-old top-ranking boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi, who heads the Yamaken-gumi gang, was arrested in December 1997 on suspicion of violating weapons control laws. Since Kuwata was a candidate for Yamaguchi-gumi leadership, the future control of the syndicate was left in doubt. Kuwata was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in his district and high court trials, and is appealing his case to the Supreme Court.
"The problem of the successor is serious," says one investigation official. "The reason that the violent Yamaken-gumi hasn't committed any prominent crimes in the Metropolitan area is that gang officials are watching the trial of the possible successor. However, there are some gang executives who are saying, 'If the sentencing of the boss is fixed, there's no need for us to hold back anymore.' You can't say what will happen."
In November last year, a Tokyo member of the Yamaken-gumi was shot dead outside a hotel near JR Tokyo Station. Although the background to the incident remains unclear, the person who replaced the victim was a higher-ranking member. Those familiar with the gangs says this indicates that the Yamaguchi-gumi is placing more of a focus on Tokyo.
Police statistics also support an increasing Yamaguchi-gumi presence in Tokyo. At least 100 black-market moneylenders that can be traced back to the Yamaguchi-gumi have been uncovered in the Metropolitan area by the Metropolitan Police Department.
The Yamaguchi-gumi has been in Tokyo since about 1991, when it came into conflict with another gang that had a base in Hachioji. Before, there was an unspoken agreement that the Yamaguchi-gumi would not open offices in the Metropolitan area, but the syndicate's presence has gradually increased, and it now has some 750 members in 35 organizations. About 200 of these members belong to the Yamaken-gumi.
Police say they will have to step up their efforts in the future to stop gang members from entering Tokyo. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, April 30, 2003)
to Tokyo to flex muscles
Mainichi Shimbun
April 30, 2003
A group of yakuza in dark suits file into a second-floor cafe in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district. Regular businessmen who walk up the stairs are silently restrained and turned away by workers.
It's 4 p.m. on March 15 and the men are gathering for a Kanto-district meeting of the Yamaken-gumi, a 7,000-member section of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime syndicate.
"Don't do anything that could affect the trial of the boss, the yakuza are told." Yamaken-gumi executives, who travel from Kansai to Tokyo for these kinds of meetings, tell the yakuza the same thing every month.
The meetings are a symbol of the Yamaguchi-gumi's increasing presence in Japan's capital as the gang shifts from its traditional Kansai-area base.
Police estimate that over the past six years the gang's numbers have tripled in the Metropolitan area. Reasons for moving to Tokyo include a decline in the Kansai economy and a prolonged recession that have made business in the area difficult.
But financial troubles are not the only worries the Yamaguchi-gumi has had to deal with. Kaneyoshi Kuwata, a 63-year-old top-ranking boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi, who heads the Yamaken-gumi gang, was arrested in December 1997 on suspicion of violating weapons control laws. Since Kuwata was a candidate for Yamaguchi-gumi leadership, the future control of the syndicate was left in doubt. Kuwata was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in his district and high court trials, and is appealing his case to the Supreme Court.
"The problem of the successor is serious," says one investigation official. "The reason that the violent Yamaken-gumi hasn't committed any prominent crimes in the Metropolitan area is that gang officials are watching the trial of the possible successor. However, there are some gang executives who are saying, 'If the sentencing of the boss is fixed, there's no need for us to hold back anymore.' You can't say what will happen."
In November last year, a Tokyo member of the Yamaken-gumi was shot dead outside a hotel near JR Tokyo Station. Although the background to the incident remains unclear, the person who replaced the victim was a higher-ranking member. Those familiar with the gangs says this indicates that the Yamaguchi-gumi is placing more of a focus on Tokyo.
Police statistics also support an increasing Yamaguchi-gumi presence in Tokyo. At least 100 black-market moneylenders that can be traced back to the Yamaguchi-gumi have been uncovered in the Metropolitan area by the Metropolitan Police Department.
The Yamaguchi-gumi has been in Tokyo since about 1991, when it came into conflict with another gang that had a base in Hachioji. Before, there was an unspoken agreement that the Yamaguchi-gumi would not open offices in the Metropolitan area, but the syndicate's presence has gradually increased, and it now has some 750 members in 35 organizations. About 200 of these members belong to the Yamaken-gumi.
Police say they will have to step up their efforts in the future to stop gang members from entering Tokyo. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, April 30, 2003)