Tokyo yakuza trial reveals the dark life of musician Aska
By Amy Takahashi on March 10, 2015
Last summer, Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Masayoshi Yagyu, 64, and Takahiko Yasunari, 47, a member of the Sumiyoshi-kai organized crime group, for violating the Narcotics Control Law by selling 100 tablets of MDMA (also known as Ecstasy) to troubled musician Asaka for 500,000 yen.
The fourth hearing for Yasunari was held last Friday at the Tokyo District Court. Most interesting to evening tabloid Nikkan Gendai (March 10) was the cross-examination of Yagyu, who paints a very dark existence for the 57-year-old performer.
According to a deposition from Yagyu, who in a previous trial was handed a three-year prison term, Yasunari served as the “underground manager” for the illicit activities of Aska, with whom the gang member has been acquainted for 18 years.
“When Aska engaged in an affair with a woman, (Yasunari) served as the dummy check-in, check-out boy at the hotel,” says a reporter covering the trial. “In addition, he used the female manager of a fuzoku joint to broker deals for women for Aska.”
The defendant also served as his drug dealer.
“Aska got him to buy drugs from foreign dealers,” continues the reporter. “He was compensated between 300,000 and 500,000 yen each time.”
In September, the Tokyo District Court handed the singer, one half of the duo Chage and Aska, a suspended three-year prison sentence for possession and use of stimulant drugs.
Thus far, Yasunari has repeatedly denied the charges against him.
Nikkan Gendai believes that Aska, whose real name is Shigeaki Miyazaki, may appear as a witness in court for Yasunari’s fifth hearing, which is scheduled for March 19.
Over the course of the court proceedings for Aska, who was first arrested last May, he has not had much to say. That may change at the next hearing.
“With Yagyu having already testified that Yasunari got drugs for Aska from foreign dealers, he will not be able to evade (such an inquiry),” continues the reporter. ” It is a difficult situation.” (A.T.)
Source: “Furin kosaku ni fuzoku assen mo bakuro deguchi ga mienai ‘asuka saiban’ no yami,” Nikkan Gendai (March 10)
NPA: Fraud surpasses theft in yakuza crime cases for first time
By Tokyo Reporter
TOKYO (TR) – In what is being viewed as evidence of a change in tactics by organized crime groups, the number of arrests of gang members on charges of fraud surpassed that for theft for the first time last year, the National Police Agency announced on Thursday, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (March 12).
According to the NPA, 10.4 percent of the 22,495 arrests of gang members nationwide in 2014 were on charges of fraud. That percentage slightly exceeded the figure for theft (10.2 percent) for the first time since record-keeping began in 1946.
The number-one charge was related to violations of the Narcotics Control Law regarding use and possession of stimulant drugs (26.5 percent).
Of particular interest to the NPA is the increased participation by organized crime in what is referred to as “special fraud,” in which victims are conned in fake investment schemes. Arrests for special fraud totaled 689, an increase of 38 percent over 2013.
“With severe crackdowns on crime ongoing, there is a possibility that a shift is under way toward special fraud as a source of funds,” a representative of the NPA said.
The NPA also said that last year the total number of organized crime members decreased by 5,100 to 53,500, which represents the fifth consecutive year-on-year decline. The membership total is the lowest since the enactment of the Anti-Organized Crime Law in 1991.
Tokyo cops arrest ex-yakuza boss in assault of underling who fled gang
By Tokyo Reporter
TOKYO (TR) – For one now defunct organized crime group in Tokyo, breaking up was very hard to do — and it ended in multiple arrests.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday apprehended a former gang boss for beating and blackmailing an underling who had departed from the gang without proper consent, reports TBS News (March 11).
Police accused Akio Fujisaku, a 59-year-old former head of a gang affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, and six other male and female former members and associates of repeatedly assaulting the ex-gangster, 37, over a four-hour period on May 6 of last year.
Eight days later, the suspects are also alleged to have blackmailed the victim, who works in the real estate industry, out of five million yen.
Prior to the assault incident, the victim had left the gang without following its established rules. After the suspects set out to locate him, he was discovered at a hospital in Shinjuku Ward and subsequently transported by car back to the gang’s office in Taito Ward, where the alleged crimes took place.
The injuries of the victim required one week to heal.
All seven suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.
The group, which was not named, ceased operations in November, according to Jiji Press (March 10).
Tokyo cops arrest yakuza in Ebisu gang shooting
By Tokyo Reporter
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Thursday arrested three suspects, including one organized crime member, for involvement in a shooting incident in Shibuya Ward over one year ago, reports TBS News (March 5).
In December of 2013, police allege that Jun Kadomoto, a 51-year-old member of the Kyokuto-kai, part-time worker Atsuo Fujita, 52, and one other suspect destroyed the door at the entrance of a seventh-floor apartment in the Ebisu district by firing four rounds of ammunition from a pistol.
The suspects, who have been charged with violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law, have refused to comment on the allegations.
According to public broadcaster NHK (March 5), a resident of the apartment is 67-year-old former member of the Kyokuto-kai. Police believe that a dispute within the gang lead to the incident.
The suspects were identified following the examination of security camera footage taken from an area near the scene of the crime.
Tokyo cops arrest Yamaguchi-gumi member for 2012 shooting of rival gangster
By Tokyo Reporter
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday arrested a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group and three others for participation in the shooting of a rival gang member last year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 29).
Officers from the anti-organized crime division took Keisuke Noguchi, 44, Norio Komatsutsuka, a 44-year-old former upper member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and two others into custody on attempted murder charges for the shooting of a 30-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai criminal syndicate in Kokubunji City, Tokyo.
On March 27, 2012, the Sumiyoshi-kai member received serious wounds in his leg and abdomen from two rounds fired from a pistol-wielding assailant on a road near JR Kokubunji Station.
Noguchi and one other suspect have reportedly denied the allegations, while Komatsutsuka and the fourth suspect have admitted involvement.
Officers are now investigating whether a dispute between the gangs led to the incident.
Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai offices raided over Tokyo shooting incidents
By Tokyo Reporter
TOKYO (TR) – Following three recent shooting incidents suspected to involve the Yamaguchi-gumi and Sumiyoshi-kai organized crime groups, Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday raided multiple offices of both gangs, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 28).
Officers from the anti-organized crime division searched 10 locations of the both yakuza groups, including premises in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward and Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, where the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters is located, on suspicion of violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law.
At around 5:50 a.m. on December 19, police received a phone call from regarding a shooting incident at an office of the Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza group in the Kichijoji area of Musashino City. Three bullet holes were later discovered at the building’s entrance and in the windshield of a car in a parking lot.
About six hours later, an officer from the Shinjuku Police Station found two bullet holes in the door of the second-floor entryway of an office used by affiliates of the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime syndicate in the Kabukicho red-light district.
According to police, the events are related and go back to a dispute between members of the gangs in Kabukicho on December 10.
Investigators also believe that the shooting on December 17 of an 86-year-old male outside an office of the Sumiyoshi-kai in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture is also connected to the dispute. The victim suffered serious injuries to his hand and stomach. A bullet cartridge was found in the nearby area.
Gang infighting results in second yakuza shooting in Tokyo
By Kenji Nakano
On the evening of August 30, officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Michio Yamamura, a 65-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai organized crime group, for possessing a handgun and ammunition in Taito Ward’s Asakusa district.
Five hours before, an assailant had fired one shot into an office of the same gang that struck and wounded a 48-year-old boss in the left part of his chest.
Officers patrolling the area after the shooting spotted Yamamura walking in the street. During questioning, the weapon and ammunition were discovered. The suspect is also alleged to have bit the thigh of one officer.
This is the second shooting incident in Tokyo involving yakuza members within the last 10 days, and, reports Shukan Asahi Geino (Sept. 18), the motive appears to be bad blood within the gang.
“This particular Sumiyoshi-kai office was founded by the brother of film star Masaki Hamamoto,” says a journalist who covers organinzed crime. “It is well-known for being a traditional organization within the Sumiyoshi-kai.”
The magazine says that since the shooting took place inside the building neighbors remained unaware that anything had happened.
“All of a sudden, the front door swung open and there was a shot,” said the gang boss, whose injuries are not considered life threatening. “I don’t know who did it.”
A reporter for a local newspaper tells Shukan Asahi Geino that Yamamura is the prime suspect in the case.
“He is an executive who supports the chairman (of that Sumiyoshi-kai office),” says the reporter. “So he shot his boss, his own ‘flesh and blood.'”
An investigator says that the motive was a dispute over the gang’s organizational structure.
“At the beginning of the year, the chairman in place at the time passed away,” says the investigator. “He was replaced by the current chairman, who Yamamura might have thought was beneath him (in the rankings). So he thought he got leapfrogged.”
The incident followed a shooting involving gang members nine days before. On the morning of August 21, a quarrel erupted inside a coffee shop in the Nishi Koiwa district of Edogawa Ward among five customers, all of whom were believed to be members of the Sumiyoshi-kai and Yamaguchi-gumi. During the dispute, two gunshots were heard by employees of the shop.
Police arriving at the scene afterward discovered two shell casings and three bloodstains. Thus far, investigators do not believe there is a connection between the two incidents.
But the aforementioned investigator tells the magazine that precautions are being taken in Asakusa.
“We are exercising vigilance in preventing an internal battle,” the source says. (K.N.)
Source: “Sumiyoshi-kai kei jimusho de kumi-cho wo utta no ha soko kanbu datta!” Shukan Asahi Geino (Sept. 18, page 181)
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