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Yamaguchi-gumi "yakuza" syndicate head Taoka

Undated photo taken at an unknown location shows Kazuo Taoka. He headed the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest "yakuza" crime syndicate, from 1946 to 1981.

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Police investigate crime syndicate

Riot policemen line up in Ota in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, on March 4, 2025, outside an organized crime syndicate's offices as investigators confiscate items as part of a probe into allegations that one of the syndicate's senior members withdrew cash using somebody else's bank card.

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Police investigate crime syndicate

Riot policemen line up in Ota in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, on March 4, 2025, outside an organized crime syndicate's office as investigators probe allegations that one of the syndicate's senior members withdrew cash using somebody else's bank card.

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Crime syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi's headquarters in western Japan

KOBE, Japan, April 10 Kyodo - A car enters the headquarters of Yamaguchi-gumi, one of Japan's largest crime syndicates, in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan, on Sept. 1, 2015, after a regular meeting with executives from affiliate gang groups across the country. The Yamaguchi-gumi "excommunicated" or "insulated" the leaders of 13 affiliates at the meeting after they showed signs of defecting in August of that year. (Kyodo)

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Türkiye detains Kazakh citizen wanted by Interpol

STORY: Türkiye detains Kazakh citizen wanted by Interpol SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 19-20, 2024 DATELINE: Jan. 21, 2024 LENGTH: 00:00:56 LOCATION: Ankara CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. various of some operations of Turkish police (courtesy of Turkish Interior Ministry) 2. various of Turkish police detaining a Kazakh national, who was wanted by Interpol, in western Izmir province of Türkiye (courtesy of ihlas news agency) 3. various of some operations of Turkish police (courtesy of Turkish Interior Ministry) STORYLINE: Turkish security forces detained on Saturday a Kazakh national, who was wanted by Interpol on charges of being a member of an "international organized crime syndicate, facilitating gambling and corruption," the public prosecutor's office of the western Izmir province said. The suspect, whose name was not revealed, had been involved in many international crimes in Kazakhstan and had disguised himself, the office said in a statement. The Kazakh was arrested in a joint intelligence-based operat

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Türkiye arrests 37 suspects linked to int'l criminal ring

STORY: Türkiye arrests 37 suspects linked to int'l criminal ring SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 2, 2023 DATELINE: Nov. 4, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:22 LOCATION: ISTANBUL, Türkiye CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. various of teams leaving the police headquarters to carry out operations 2. various of special operations STORYLINE: Turkish authorities have arrested 37 people suspected of being part of an Australia-based international crime syndicate, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday. The gang, known as Comanchero, is involved in drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, and other crimes, Yerlikaya said in a post on the social media platform X. The minister said the gang tried to smuggle drugs from different countries and launder the money they made from illegal activities in Türkiye, without revealing when or where the arrests took place. "We will not let organized crime gangs and drug dealers get away with it," Yerlikaya said. Located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Türkiye has been gra

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Taki reappointed as justice minister after scandals

TOKYO, Japan - Justice Minister Minoru Taki holds a press conference at the ministry in Tokyo on Oct. 24, 2012. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reappointed Taki as justice minister earlier the same day, following the resignation of Keishu Tanaka over his past connections with a yakuza organized crime syndicate.

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Taki reappointed as justice minister after scandals

TOKYO, Japan - Justice Minister Minoru Taki (L) and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda shake hands at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Oct. 24, 2012, following an attestation ceremony. Noda reappointed Taki as justice minister earlier the same day, following the resignation of Keishu Tanaka over his past connections with a yakuza organized crime syndicate.

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Taki reappointed as justice minister after scandals

TOKYO, Japan - Minoru Taki enters the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Oct. 24, 2012. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reappointed Taki as justice minister on the same day, following the resignation of Keishu Tanaka over his past connections with a yakuza organized crime syndicate.

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Justice Minister Tanaka resigns

TOKYO, Japan - Photo on Oct. 23, 2012, shows a room with empty seats at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo, where a press conference by Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka was cancelled, after he resigned the same day in the face of scandals over his political funds and close ties with an organized crime syndicate.

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Justice Minister Tanaka resigns

TOKYO, Japan - A Cabinet meeting is held at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Oct. 23, 2012. Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka resigned earlier the same day in the face of scandals over his political funds and close ties with an organized crime syndicate.

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Justice Minister Tanaka resigns

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka. He resigned on Oct. 23, 2012, in the face of scandals over his political funds and close ties with an organized crime syndicate.

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Justice Minister Tanaka

TOKYO, Japan - Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka is discharged from a Tokyo hospital on Oct. 22, 2012, following checks after complaining of chest pain, an irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure. The resignation of Tanaka, under fire for his ties with an organized crime syndicate about 30 years ago, is believed to be unavoidable.

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Justice Minister Tanaka

TOKYO, Japan - Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka is discharged from a Tokyo hospital on Oct. 22, 2012, following checks after complaining of chest pain, an irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure. The resignation of Tanaka, under fire for his ties with an organized crime syndicate about 30 years ago, is believed to be unavoidable.

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Justice Minister Tanaka

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken Oct. 19, 2012, shows a hospital in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward where Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka was admitted the same day after complaining of chest pain. Tanaka was planning to step down after admitting to having had past ties with an organized crime syndicate a couple of decades ago, government officials said the same day.

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Justice Minister Tanaka

TOKYO, Japan - Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka admits to having acted as a matchmaker for a senior member of a major yakuza gang in Yokohama about 30 years ago and attended a party hosted by its leader, at a press conference at the ministry in Tokyo on Oct. 12, 2012. Tanaka was planning to step down after admitting to having had past ties with an organized crime syndicate, government officials said Oct. 19, 2012.

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Justice minister dismisses notion of resigning

TOKYO, Japan - Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on Oct. 12, 2012. Tanaka dismissed the idea of resigning after a weekly magazine reported he acted as a matchmaker for a senior member of a crime syndicate years ago and made a speech at the syndicate's party, although he admitted the report was true.

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'Yakuza' office raided over 600 mil. yen robbery

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Police investigators enter an office of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, on July 11, 2011, over a 600 million yen robbery in Tachikawa, western Tokyo. Most of the stolen money in the biggest-ever cash robbery in Japan has not been recovered.

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Raid on yakuza headquarters

KOBE, Japan - Police officers enter the headquarters of Japan's largest crime syndicate the Yamaguchi-gumi in Kobe, western Japan, on June 10, 2011. The police were investigating a case involving a yakuza boss, who was arrested on suspicion of playing golf using a false name at a golf course that bans gangsters.

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Police raid gang

KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Police officers line up in front of the home of the boss of the Kudo-kai crime syndicate in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Feb. 11, 2011. About 90 police officers searched the home, with some 20 riot squad members standing guard outside, in an investigation into a suspected attempted murder involving a shooting at a local construction site two days earlier.

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Police battling against crime syndicate

TOKYO, Japan - The National Police Agency holds a meeting on countermeasures against Japan's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and its largest gang, Kodokai, on Jan. 26, 2011, at the agency in Tokyo. The agency ordered police officials from across Japan in charge of investigating organized crimes to give the syndicate a decisive blow through investigation before the release in April from prison of its boss Kenichi Shinoda, commonly known as Shinobu Tsukasa.

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Police raid Fukuoka gang office over sumo gambling scandal

FUKUOKA, Japan - Tokyo police raid the office of the Izu-gumi gang group affiliated with Japan's largest crime syndicate the Yamaguchi-gumi, in Fukuoka, on Aug. 2, 2010, in connection with the illegal gambling scandal rocking the traditional Japanese sport of sumo.

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Stablemaster rents from man with alleged gangster links

TOKYO, Japan - Sumo stablemaster Matsugane looks down during a press conference at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan hall on July 21, 2010, after the media reported he rented a building in Osaka from a business executive who police say has close ties with Japan's largest crime syndicate.

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Stablemaster rents from man with alleged gangster links

TOKYO, Japan - Sumo stablemaster Matsugane bows in apology during a press conference at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan hall on July 21, 2010, after the media reported he rented a building in Osaka from a business executive who police say has close ties with Japan's largest crime syndicate.

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Stablemaster rents from man with alleged gangster links

TOKYO, Japan - Sumo stablemaster Matsugane answer questions from reporters at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan hall on July 21, 2010, after the media reported he rented a building in Osaka from a business executive who police say has close ties with Japan's largest crime syndicate.

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Stablemaster rents from man with alleged gangster links

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken on July 21, 2010 shows a building in Osaka that sumo stablemaster Matsugane has rented from a man who has close ties with Japan's largest crime syndicate and used for training and lodging wrestlers.

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Stablemaster rents building from man with alleged gangster links

NAGOYA, Japan - Sumo stablemaster Matsugane serves as a referee at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament in Nagoya on July 21, 2010. The stablemaster rented a building in Osaka city from a business executive who police say has close ties with Japan's largest crime syndicate, and used it for training and lodging wrestlers in March, sources familiar with the matter said the same day.

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Yakuza nabbed for stealing Peko-chan doll

WAKAYAMA, Japan - Peko-chan mascot dolls, which were retrieved from recycle shops in the city of Osaka, are stored at a police station in the city of Wakayama. Police said on Sept. 2 they have arrested Hiroshi Inaba, an executive of a crime syndicate, for allegedly stealing a Peko-chan mascot doll from a store of confectionery maker Fujiya Co. in Wakayama. The dolls are thought to trade for around 150,000 yen (about $1,600) to 200,000 yen among collectors.

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Woman rescued in Aichi Pref. hostage standoff

NAGOYA, Japan - A policeman lifts onto his back Michiko Mori (C), a woman rescued from nearly 23 hours of hostage, in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, on May 18. She had been taken captive by her former husband at his house following a shooting spree by the man, a former gangster of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate.

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Police search Yamaguchi-gumi over shooting of rival gangster

KOBE, Japan - Police stand on guard in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Feb. 26 while investigators search the headquarters of Japan's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, on suspicion the yakuza group was involved in the killing of a senior member of rival Sumiyoshi-kai earlier this month.

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2 die, 5 injured in Tokyo shooting

TOKYO, Japan - Photo, taken from a Kyodo News helicopter at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7, shows patrol cars and other police vehicles mobilized in front of a building in Tokyo's Kojimachi district. The building houses a rightist group's office where two people were killed and five others injured in a shooting incident. The incident involved the rightists and a rival group within the same crime syndicate, police said.

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The Big Operator film (1959)

Mamie Van Doren Characters: Mary Gibson Film: The Big Operator; Anatomy Of The Syndicate (1958) Director: Charles F.Haas 01 August 1959 Date: 01-Aug-59

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The Big Operator film (1959)

Mickey Rooney Characters: Little Joe Braun Film: The Big Operator; Anatomy Of The Syndicate (1959) Director: Charles F.Haas 01 August 1959 Date: 01-Aug-59

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Top official in local branch of crime syndicate shot dead

Okayama prefectural police conduct an investigation near the parking lot of an apartment complex in Okayama, western Japan, where Tadashi Takagi, a top official in the local Ikeda branch of crime syndicate Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, was shot on May 31, 2016, resulting in his death later in the day. The police are treating the incident as a homicide, with suspicions of a connection to Japan's largest gang, the Yamaguchi-gumi, following concerns of intensifying conflicts between the two crime syndicates after their split in August 2015. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Japan blacklists spun-off gang for tighter control

Photo taken Dec. 13, 2015, shows Kunio Inoue, head of the Japanese crime syndicate Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. The group that split from Japan's largest gang, the Yamaguchi-gumi, was added to the list of "designated crime syndicates" on April 7, 2016 to put it under tighter control, Hyogo Prefecture's public safety commission said. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Police raid Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi office over drug smuggling

Police officers raid the head office of crime syndicate Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, on March 8, 2016, in connection with the arrest of five members of the group on March 2 for allegedly smuggling about 100 kilograms of stimulant drugs with a street value of some 7 billion yen ($62 million) into Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Court accepts DVD of witness interrogation as evidence of crime

File photo taken in July 2014 shows the Legislative Council of Japan's Justice Ministry holding a meeting at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office. A court in southwestern Japan sentenced a senior member of an organized crime syndicate to nine years in jail in a drug trafficking case in March 2015 after accepting as evidence a DVD recording of a prosecutor's interrogation of a witness, sources close to the matter revealed on Nov. 12. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Crime syndicate headquarters raided on charges of fraud

Aichi prefectural police raid the headquarters of Japan's largest crime syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi in Kobe on Nov. 4, 2015. In October, three men, including the head of a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate, were arrested for obtaining a bank book allegedly by concealing that it would be used by members of the syndicate. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Leader of major organized crime syndicate faces tax evasion charges

Naomasa Yoshida, chief of Fukuoka prefectural police, holds a press conference in Japan's western city of Kitakyushu on June 16, 2015, after serving a fresh arrest warrant on Satoru Nomura, the leader of Kudo-kai one of Japan's major crime syndicates, for allegedly hiding dues and evading income tax. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Leader of major organized crime syndicate faces tax evasion charges

Investigators carry a box out of the home of Masakichi Yamanaka, a senior member of the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, in Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan, during a raid on June 16, 2015. Kudo-kai's head, Satoru Nomura, was served with a fresh arrest warrant the same day for allegedly hiding hundreds of millions of yen collected from members affiliated with the group, and evading income tax, while Yamanaka and two others were arrested on suspicion of managing the dues. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Senior member of crime syndicate driven into custody

A car carrying Masakichi Yamanaka, a senior member of a major crime syndicate in Japan, enters the Fukuoka detention house in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka on June 16, 2015, after police arrested him on suspicion of managing dues illegally collected from members affiliated with the group, Kudo-kai. The leader of the group was also arrested over tax evasion. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Police raid crime syndicate over violation of gun control law

Police stand in front of a building related to Japanese crime syndicate Kudo-kai in Nakama, Fukuoka Prefecture on May 15, 2015, to conduct a raid on the grounds the group violated the Swords and Firearms Control Law. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Japanese murder suspect arrested in Thailand

Shigeharu Shirai (standing), a 74-year-old Japanese man wanted for his suspected involvement in the 2003 murder of a senior crime syndicate member in Japan, is questioned at a police station in Lopburi province, central Thailand, on Jan. 11, 2018, a day after Thai police arrested him. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Japanese murder suspect arrested in Thailand

Shigeharu Shirai (front, 2nd from R), a 74-year-old Japanese man wanted for his suspected involvement in the 2003 murder of a senior crime syndicate member in Japan, is pictured in Lopburi province, central Thailand, on Jan. 11, 2018, a day after Thai police arrested him. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Members eyeing breakaway group from Japanese crime syndicate

Police officers and media personnel gather around an office building in Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on April 30, 2017, where a meeting was being held with the aim of forming a new breakaway group from the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Fukuoka police raid office linked to Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi

Members of the Fukuoka prefectural police enter an office associated with the Kobe Yamaguchi-Gumi, a new group split from Japan's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, during a raid on Sept. 17, 2015, in Fukutsu, southwestern Japan. It was the first house search executed by the prefectural police on a site associated with the new group. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Fukuoka police raid office linked to Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi

Members of the Fukuoka prefectural police carry away from an office associated with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, a new group split from Japan's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, materials they have confiscated during a raid on Sept. 17, 2015, in Fukutsu, southwestern Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Yakuza nabbed for stealing Peko-chan doll

WAKAYAMA, Japan - Peko-chan mascot dolls, which were retrieved from recycle shops in the city of Osaka, are stored at a police station in the city of Wakayama. Police said on Sept. 2 they have arrested Hiroshi Inaba, an executive of a crime syndicate, for allegedly stealing a Peko-chan mascot doll from a store of confectionery maker Fujiya Co. in Wakayama. The dolls are thought to trade for around 150,000 yen (about $1,600) to 200,000 yen among collectors. (Kyodo)

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Police raid Fukuoka gang office over sumo gambling scandal

FUKUOKA, Japan - Tokyo police raid the office of the Izu-gumi gang group affiliated with Japan's largest crime syndicate the Yamaguchi-gumi, in Fukuoka, on Aug. 2, 2010, in connection with the illegal gambling scandal rocking the traditional Japanese sport of sumo. (Kyodo)

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Stablemaster rents from man with alleged gangster links

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken on July 21, 2010 shows a building in Osaka that sumo stablemaster Matsugane has rented from a man who has close ties with Japan's largest crime syndicate and used for training and lodging wrestlers. (Kyodo)