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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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Battle between major Japanese gangster syndicates

TOKYO, Japan, April 25 Kyodo - File photo taken on April 18, 1985, shows a pistol and bullets confiscated by police who were investigating a fierce battle between Japan's two largest underground gangster syndicates -- Yamaguchi-gumi and Ichiwa-kai -- in the 1980s.

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Fierce battle between major Japanese underground syndicates

KOBE, Japan, April 25 Kyodo - A bullet hole (arrow mark) is seen on the front window of a vehicle ridden by members of the Ichiwa-kai underground gangster syndicate in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 14, 1985. A shooter belonging to Ichiwa-kai's rival, Yamaguchi-gumi, opened fire at the vehicle when it was parked at a crossing in the western Japan city earlier in the day.

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Major Japanese underground syndicate

CHITOSE, Japan, April 25 Kyodo - Kazuo Nakanishi (front) and Saizo Kishimoto (back), both senior members of the Yamaguchi-gumi underground gangster syndicate, have their bodies checked by riot police officers upon their arrival at Chitose airport in Chitose on the northernmost Japanese main island of Hokkaido on April 18, 1985.

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Fierce battle between major Japanese underground syndicates

YAWATA, Japan, April 25 Kyodo - Police investigators search a residence of the leader of a group affiliated with the Ichiwa-kai underground gangster syndicate in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, on April 14, 1985, following a shooting incident blamed on Ichiwa-kai's rival, Yamaguchi-gumi, that left two affiliate group members injured.

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Fierce battle between major Japanese underground syndicates

OSAKA, Japan, April 25 Kyodo - Riot police officers confront members of the Yamaguchi-gumi underground gangster syndicate to keep them at bay from Osaka Police Hospital in the western Japan city on Jan. 26, 1985. The syndicate's leader Masahisa Takenaka was admitted to the hospital earlier in the day after being shot by members belonging to the syndicate's rival, Ichiwa-kai.

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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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'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 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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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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Offices of gang group, condo sales firm searched

TOKYO, Japan - Police officers enter the head office of Goto-gumi gang group, affiliated with Japan's largest underworld syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi, in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, on May 9 to search there in connection with the previous day's arrest of its boss for allegedly illegally transferring the property rights of a building in Tokyo.

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Police raid Japan's largest yakuza group over loan-sharking

KOBE, Japan - Police officers enter the headquarters of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza group, in Kobe on Oct. 24 to search for evidence over charges related to loan-sharking activities.

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Kyuma photographed with high-level gangster

TOKYO, Japan - Fumio Kyuma (sitting), acting policy research council chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is seen in a photo taken in October 1997 with a man (2nd from L) linked to the Yamaguchi-Gumi yakuza group in the room of the director general of the Defense Agency in Tokyo. At that time, Kyuma served as Defense Agency chief.

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(1) Yoshinori Watanabe

TOKYO, Japan - Yoshinori Watanabe, leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group. Photo was taken in January 1980. (Kyodo)

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(2) Yoshinori Watanabe

KOBE, Japan - Yoshinori Watanabe, leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group, walks toward the Kobe District Court. (Kyodo)

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(3) Yoshinori Watanabe

Osaka, Japan - Yoshinori Watanabe, leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group, shows up at the Osaka Police Headquarters on Aug. 18, 1986. (Kyodo)

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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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National Police Agency holds meeting on crackdown on gang groups

National Police Agency chief Masahito Kanetaka addresses an emergency meeting of local police officers in charge of crime syndicates in Tokyo on March 8, 2016. The meeting was held amid concerns about intensifying conflicts among gangsters linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi, one of the country's biggest syndicates. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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National Police Agency holds meeting on crackdown on gang groups

National Police Agency chief Masahito Kanetaka addresses an emergency meeting of local police officers in charge of crime syndicates in Tokyo on March 8, 2016. The meeting was held amid concerns about intensifying conflicts among gangsters linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi, one of the country's biggest syndicates. (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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Yoshinori Watanabe

TOKYO, Japan - Yoshinori Watanabe, head of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime organization. The date of the photo is unknown. (Kyodo)

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Masahisa Takenaka

TOKYO, Japan - File photo of head of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime organization, Masahisa Takenaka. The date of the photo is unknown. (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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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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Offices of gang group, condo sales firm searched

TOKYO, Japan - Police officers enter the head office of Goto-gumi gang group, affiliated with Japan's largest underworld syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi, in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, on May 9 to search there in connection with the previous day's arrest of its boss for allegedly illegally transferring the property rights of a building in Tokyo. (Kyodo)

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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. (Kyodo)

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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. (Kyodo)

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A leader and his pupil

A master carpenter from Yamaguchi-gumi poses with his apprentice. The resemblance suggests that they are father and son. If this is correct, their family name could be Kumada. The master carpenter is holding a deerstalker hat and wearing leather shoes. They may have dressed up for the photograph. This photograph was taken at a studio with a backdrop, not on location, probably around 1897.==Date:1924, Place:Tokyo, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number72‐31‐0]

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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. (Kyodo)

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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. (Kyodo)

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Japan's yakuza head released

KOBE, Japan - Kenichi Shinoda (C), the head of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, arrives at a train station in Kobe city, where the group's headquarters are located, after being released from prison in Tokyo on April 9, 2011. Shinoda, who was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of being involved in the possession of a gun by a member of his yakuza gang, served time since December 2005. (Kyodo)

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Japanxs's yakuza head released

KOBE, Japan - Kenichi Shinoda, the head of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, arrives at a train tation in Kobe city, where the group's headquarters are located, after being released from prison in Tokyo on April 9, 2011. Shinoda, who was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of being involved in the possession of a gun by a member of his yakuza gang, served time since December 2005. (Kyodo)

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Japan's yakuza head released

KOBE, Japan - Kenichi Shinoda (C), the head of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, visits a grave in Kobe, after being released from prison in Tokyo on April 9, 2011. Shinoda, who was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of being involved in the possession of a gun by a member of his yakuza gang, served time since December 2005. (Kyodo)

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CORRECTED Japan's yakuza head released

KOBE, Japan - CORRECTING HEADLINE Kenichi Shinoda, the head of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, arrives at a train tation in Kobe city, where the group's headquarters are located, after being released from prison in Tokyo on April 9, 2011. Shinoda, who was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of being involved in the possession of a gun by a member of his yakuza gang, served time since December 2005. (Kyodo)

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Japan's yakuza head released

KOBE, Japan - Kenichi Shinoda (C), the head of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, arrives at the head office of the group in Kobe, after being released from prison in Tokyo on April 9, 2011. Shinoda, who was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of being involved in the possession of a gun by a member of his yakuza gang, served time since December 2005. (Kyodo)

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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. (Kyodo)

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No. 2 man of Japan's largest gang group arrested

KYOTO, Japan - Kiyoshi Takayama, second-in-command of Japan's largest crime syndicate the Yamaguchi-gumi, is seen in a car in Kyoto on Nov. 18, 2010, after being arrested on suspicion of extorting money from a man in the city. (Kyodo)

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Bodyguard shot dead in apparent gangster feud in Kobe

Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Sept. 12, 2017, shows Hyogo prefectural police working in a residential area of Kobe where a man, believed to be a bodyguard of the head of a splinter gang group, was shot dead in an apparent feud with Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest crime syndicate in Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Bodyguard shot dead in apparent gangster feud in Kobe

Hyogo prefectural police work in a residential area of Kobe on Sept. 12, 2017, where a man, believed to be a bodyguard of the head of a splinter gang group, was shot dead in an apparent feud with Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest crime syndicate in Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Yamaguchi-gumi splinter group chief arrested

Photo taken Dec. 13, 2015 in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture shows Kunio Inoue, head of the Japanese crime syndicate Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, who was arrested on suspicion of fraud on June 6, 2017. The Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi was formed in 2015 by Inoue and others after they left the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime group. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Yamaguchi-gumi splinter group chief arrested

Police raid the home of Kunio Inoue, chief of the crime syndicate Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, in Kobe, western Japan on June 6, 2017, after he was arrested on suspicion of fraud the same day. The Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi was formed in 2015 by Inoue and others after they left the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime group. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Headquarters of crime syndicate searched by police

Police officers enter the headquarters of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, a crime syndicate in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, on May 12, 2017 to search for evidence related to a blackmailing case involving the group. The previous day the National Police Agency said it believes 47 incidents occurred between Japan's largest crime syndicate the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, a splinter group, between March 7, 2016, when police recognized they were at war soon after their split, and May 10, 2017. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Police raid Japan's largest yakuza group over loan-sharking

KOBE, Japan - Police officers enter the headquarters of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza group, in Kobe on Oct. 24 to search for evidence over charges related to loan-sharking activities. (Kyodo)