Criminal gang violence expected to happen in Japan
A wave of gang violence is expected to happen in Japan, police say, as a rift has emerged in the country's largest "Yakuza" organized crime syndicate.
At least 10 factions of the Yamaguchi-gumi gang are struggling to split from the main body and create a new crime organization, Japanese media said on Friday.
The rift is blamed on differences in loyalty to the gang’s 73-year-old boss, Shinobu Tsukasa, who became Japan’s most powerful crime lord in 2005, the Japan Times said.
Reports say Tsukasa, also known as Kenichi Shinoda, has irritated some of the factions in the syndicate by giving preferential treatment to certain branches, as well as planning to move the headquarters from the city of Kobe to Nagoya.
Police forces were on high alert following the recent developments as an inter-gang dispute was expected to turn violent.
"Police are working to collect information. We hope police will use this opportunity to take measures to weaken the organization," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
"The government is aware that some member factions of the Yamaguchi-gumi, regarded as Japan's biggest crime syndicate, are showing moves toward secession," Suga added.
Japanese security officials are slated to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the potential split, the Nikkei newspaper said.
The Japanese mafia, aka the Yakuza, is engaged in a host of illegal activities including drug trafficking, extortion, white-collar crime, prostitution, and human trafficking.
However, being a Yakuza member is not illegal in Japan and many of the designated groups have headquarters in different cities throughout the country.
With 23,000 members and associates, the Yamaguchi-gumi is one of the largest organized crime groups in the world. It has been facing many problems in recent years due to police crackdown and difficulty in recruiting new members.
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