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Japan's mob reorganizes for the future

An old man strolls in front of a large sign that reads ``Get Rid Of Gang Syndicates'' at a park in Kobe, western Japan, last week. Tucked away behind a high wall and a row of trees on a quiet street corner, the headquarters of Japan's largest crime syndicate could almost pass for just another residence in a ritzy neighborhood. PHOTO: AP

Tucked away behind a high wall and a row of trees on a quiet street corner, the headquarters of Japan's largest crime syndicate could almost pass for just another upscale mansion. Except for all the surveillance cameras, and the barbed wire and the comings and goings of all the sharply dressed men sporting sunglasses and crewcuts.

In its biggest shakeup in 16 years, Japan's largest crime gang named a new boss last month with a flurry of vows made over cups of sake behind the walls of its headquarters in this western port city. Soon after, police reported another big move by the 40,000-strong Yamaguchi-gumi -- it had absorbed a large gang in Tokyo, traditionally one of its weaker markets.

If it seemed to play like a routine corporate merger in the Japanese media and police communiques, it's because the Japanese mob -- known as the yakuza -- has a place of its own in the power structure. The police deployed in strength outside the mansion weren't there to make arrests so much as to intervene if the meeting turned violent. But there were no arrests and no incidents.

Police confirm the meeting took place, but aren't commenting on the bigger picture inside the Yamaguchi-gumi, so it isn't clear why Yoshinori Watanabe chose to step down as boss and let his second-in-command, Kenichi Shinoda, take over.

But experts believe the syndicate's recent moves reflect a larger restructuring of the underworld.

"The trend for gangsters to join up with the biggest gangs is getting stronger, and this is a good example," said Kanehiro Hoshino, a Teikyo University criminologist. "The new boss is almost certainly going to push hard to expand the gang's reach."

Although Japan prides itself on low levels of violence and street crime, its gangsters are among the world's wealthiest. They bring in billions of dollars a year from extortion, gambling, prostitution, Internet porn, guns, drugs and real estate and construction kickbacks.

Police say their number is growing, and the Yamaguchi-gumi is swallowing them up faster than ever.

At the end of last year, there were 87,000 gangsters, 70.5 percent of them affiliated with the country's three largest crime syndicates, according to the National Police Agency. The Yamaguchi-gumi grew by 1,100 to 39,200 to comprise 45.1 percent of Japan's total underworld members -- and that was before absorbing the 1,000-strong Nippon Kokusui-kai, one of the oldest and strongest gangs in the capital.

Consolidation makes good business sense in Japanese gangland. The "big three" are tightly organized in a pyramid style, with gangsters paying cuts to their bosses, and their bosses paying increasingly large fees to their overlords. In exchange, members get protection and help in fending off rivals, and can use their affiliation with a major syndicate to pressure extortion victims.

Gangsters in major affiliates can also take bigger risks because they're guaranteed support in jail. Promised cash rewards and promotions after they've done their time, some even carry out revenge hits and then turn themselves in.

The Yamaguchi-gumi's new boss did just that. Shinoda, 63, was convicted of stabbing another gangster to death and served 13 years in prison beginning in the 1970s.

"He did his time quietly," Shinji Ishihara, a former Yamaguchi-gumi gangster who knew him in prison, said. "Prison life is hard. But he was a very patient, very strong man. He was proud of what he had done. He wasn't your average prisoner."

Before 1992, gangsters made little effort to hide their affiliations.

Police tended to look the other way because of the tacit understanding that the mob would avoid killings outside of their own ranks, and would at times provide authorities with information. Top-level gangsters also often had close ties with business and political leaders.

But the main gangs got too brazen and violent, and after a police officer was shot in Okinawa, authorities cracked down. A registry of gang members was created, surveillance was increased and anti-extortion laws toughened.

Though still powerful and well-connected, gangsters who had openly flaunted their mob affiliations were forced underground and diversified their operations in the stock and real estate markets -- gray areas where convictions are harder to obtain.

Hoping to gain momentum, the 240,000-strong national force has vowed to renew the pressure and will deploy 10,000 more policemen around Japan over the next three years.
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