Inside The Dangerous World Of The Yakuza

Americans love stories about gangsters

often with nicknames like The Nose or Joey Bag of Donuts. But there are just as many larger-than-life stories

about the Japanese mafia, also known as the Yakuza, which are less famous here in the States

and haven't been mythologized by American films. So today, we're exploring some of the wildest facts

about famous Yakuza bosses. All right, Yakuza fans, time to put down the controller

and hear about the real thing. Kenichi Shinoda is less a historical figure than an actual current criminal in the world right now

He's the current chairman of Yamaguchi Gumi, Japan's largest Yakuza organization. You might be familiar with American mafia-style families

where sometimes the kingpin will just leave their goofball son in charge. But in the Yakuza, you usually have to work your way up

And that's exactly what Shinoda did. In the early 1960s, he joined the Hiroto Gumi

a relatively small affiliate organization of the Yamaguchi Gumi in Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city

Over time, Shinoda amassed power in the organization and eventually reformed his local chapter as his own gang, the Kodo Kai

In the 1970s, Shinoda was arrested and charged with killing a rival boss with a damp samurai sword

He'd ultimately served 13 years behind bars for the offense. But of course, that's not the end of Shinoda's story

Upon release, he once again took over the Kodo Kai and increased their territory

including a daring and bloody push into Japan's Kanto region, which had been largely closed off to the Yamaguchis

In 1997, one of his bodyguards was caught by authorities carrying an illegal pistol

By 2005, he was positioned to take over the entire Yamaguchi organization

from previous Don Yoshinori Watanabe, but he still ended up serving a six-year prison sentence

for conspiring with his bodyguard to conceal the weapon. Heading off to the slammer just a few months after taking over the most powerful Yakuza family in Japan

he fully took charge of the organization after his release from prison in 2011

The following year, Shinoda was among the foreign criminals against whom President Barack Obama imposed sanctions

along with his second-in-command, Kiyoshi Takayama. The list also includes the infamous Kamora of Italy, the Brother Circle of Russia, and Mexico's Los Etas cartel

With friends like these. Still free today, Shinoda rejects a lot of the traditional trappings of his office

traveling by train instead of chauffeured limousine, and famously stopping at a street vendor for ramen noodles on his way to a lavish Yakuza banquet in his honor

What a mensch. Yoshinori Watanabe, Shinoda's immediate predecessor as head of Yamaguchi Gumi

was also a successful leader, running the Klan during a tumultuous period from 1989 through the

mid In 1992 Japan government passed a sweeping anti law and began cracking down on Yakuza activities in earnest forcing Watanabe to take a more low and less openly violent approach In the aftermath of a devastating 1995 earthquake

Watanabe arranged for the gang to give away over 1 billion yen in needed goods and free lunches

to survivors as a PR tactic. So all is forgiven? Known by the nickname Mr. Gorilla

because of his personal appearance, Watanabe was a self-made man who had prospered

within the Yakuza organization. He famously spent a few years in his youth

working as a noodle maker before tiring of food service and embarking on the criminal life

Talk about supersizing. Another former Yamaguchi gumi kingpin was Kazuo Taoka, sometimes known as the Godfather of

Godfathers, or the Japanese Godfather. An orphan, he was raised to be a street fighter by infamous

Japanese crime figure Noboru Yamaguchi, who was only the second man to ever lead the infamous

Yakuza clan. As a fighter, Taoka was known as the bear due to a signature attack which involved

clawing out his opponent's eyes. Somehow, in classic Japanese boxing, this was a legal maneuver

From 1937 through 1943, Taoka was imprisoned for murder. But upon release, he worked his way up

through the Yamaguchi gang. By age 33, just three years out of jail, Taoka was already serving as

the organization's chair and top official. A visionary criminal, Taoka realized that the

current Yamaguchi business, including stealing freight from the docks and selling black market

goods, was too small, and the gang needed to take control of all the shipping businesses going on

around the city of Kobe's busy post-World War II port. Thus, he grew the Yamaguchis from a

relatively small criminal gang into a full-fledged international crime syndicate, which reportedly

had over 10,000 members at its peak. But building up his group to such a level of power and prominence

also made him a considerably large target. In 1978, a member of the rival gang Matsuda Gumi

took a successful shot at Taoka, hitting him in the back of the neck

After racing to the hospital in his trademark bulletproof Cadillac, accompanied by a police escort, no less

Taoka survived the assassination attempt. The attacker, Kyoshi Naruma, was not so fortunate

He was found murdered just a few weeks later on a Kobe mountainside

Taoka lived for three more years until succumbing to a heart attack in 1981

His widow, Fumiko, briefly inherited control of the clan before appointing a successor, Masahisa Takenaka, in 1984

The cops, helping to save the life of a notorious gang boss

and criminal, is an ongoing theme in Yakuza life, where gang activity is largely understood, tolerated

and sometimes even dabbled in by the ruling elite. One infamous Yakuza figure who demonstrates the open door

between criminal life and the rule of law was Yoshio Kodama, known as a kurumaku

or behind-the-scenes fixer and liaison. As a young man in 1920s Japan Kodama became a political radical and joined a number of ultra nationalist groups His work brought together paramilitary right militias and Yakuza gangs raising funds by exporting and selling opium then spreading propaganda and breaking down resistance to

Japanese rule in Korea and Manchuria. During World War II, he worked in a number of roles on behalf of Imperial Japan, including

running a spy network, drug smuggling, and plundering artwork. For his efforts, Kodama was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy

After Japan lost the war, Kodama reportedly considered ritually offing himself, as so many of his fellow commanders did, but decided against it

Seemed kind of messy. Instead, he made a deal with the Yakuza to help him stash away much of his ill-earned wealth

In 1946, he was arrested by the United States as a war criminal

But just two years later, the United States government realized this crafty veteran of

international espionage, who shared their distrust of the Chinese and hatred for communism

could prove useful. For the next several years, Kodama ran a variety of operations either on

behalf of the CIA or with their direct knowledge. In 1960, he used a combination of right-wing thugs

and Yakuza gangsters to secure the streets and clamp down on liberal protests ahead of a planned

visit to Japan by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. But when a female university student

was killed, Eisenhower canceled the visit. Kodama's career as a player and a right-wing

fixer came to an end in the early 1970s. After it became clear, he'd taken bribes from aerospace

manufacturer Lockheed to promote their interests in Japan. A fellow ultra-nationalist, actor

Mitsuyasu Mayano, was so disillusioned by this news, he attempted to smoke Kodama by flying a

plane into his mansion. But Mayano's plane hit the wrong room, and Kodama was unharmed. The

shadowy but history-making figure didn't check out until 1984, when he suffered a stroke in his sleep

Another Yakuza with important and long-standing government ties was Tadamasa Goto. He was the

founder of Fujinomiya-based Gotogumi, the largest syndicate of Yamaguchi-gumi in all of Japan

At his height, he was considered the most powerful crime boss in Tokyo, and journalist Jake Adelstein dubbed him the John Gotti of Japan

He was also, for several years, an FBI informant. In 2001, Goto secured a special deal with the U.S. government to fly to Los Angeles, jump the transplant line, and receive a new liver at UCLA Medical Center

He even got personalized treatment from world-renowned liver surgeon Dr. Ronald Busato back home in Japan

That's right, house calls. It's also believed Goto snapped similar treatment for a few of his top lieutenants

Hey, they drink a lot in the Yakuza. Bad livers are common

In exchange, Goto paid the U.S. $100,000 and agreed to pass inside information about Yakuza activities to the FBI

Though he apparently helped to shine light on the crimes of Susumu Kajiyama the so Emperor of Lone Sharks U authorities ultimately deemed most of the dirt passed on by Goto to be largely useless He later retired from crime entirely

and became a Buddhist priest, changing his name to Chue and daring anyone to say anything about it

In 2007, Tetsuya Shiro, a former leader of the Nagasaki-based Yakuza group Suishinkai

was arrested for shooting and killing Nagasaki's mayor, Icho Ito. Shiro's motive was not some high-level, mafia movie-level vendetta

but the result of a simple feud gone wrong. Apparently, one of Shiro's cars had been damaged at a public construction site in 2003

and he never felt fairly compensated. A few years later, he was once again angered when a construction company affiliated with his gang

was denied a lucrative public contract. After these two personal slights and suffering from a desperate financial situation of his own

Shiro began plotting to assassinate the mayor. Maybe fill out a form or talk to your council member first, Shiro

On April 17, 2007, Shiro approached Ito outside of his campaign office as he left for the day

and shot him twice in the back. Shiro was quickly arrested by police

telling them that he'd originally planned to kill himself immediately following the crime

As far as the authorities could tell, the killing was not an official Yakuza-sponsored action

but a result of Shiro's personal grudge and desperate circumstances. His entire gang, the Suishinkai, voluntarily disbanded following the incident

Shiro was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 and passed away in jail in 2020

One still-living legend of the Yakuza life is former Kurokai leader Satoru Nomura

who's currently serving a life sentence in prison after narrowly escaping capital punishment for his crimes

A former gambler who never graduated high school, Nomura was in his 20s when he joined the Yakuza

earning his reputation on real estate scams and running underground gambling dens

An infamous underworld figure, Nomura reportedly had at one time over 1,200 members

serving directly underneath him. Among his more famed exploits were ordering a hit

on a retired police officer and stabbing the nurse at a cosmetic surgery clinic after he was displeased with the results of his procedure

Nomura's most notorious moment came not during his criminal career, but during his trial

In 2014, he was arrested for his involvement in the murder of Kunihiro Kajiwara, the former

leader of a major union for fishermen. While already under indictment, Nomura was charged with even more crimes and attempted

murders, including his attack on the cosmetic surgery nurse. In 2021, Nomura became the first ever Yakuza boss to receive a death sentence

though this was downgraded to life imprisonment in March of 2024. Upon hearing the death sentence, Nomura famously threatened the judge

telling him, I asked you for a fair judgment, but this is not fair at all

You will regret this for the rest of your life. Considering the sentence was eventually reduced

maybe he made the judge an offer he couldn't refuse