Notorious Japanese Yakuza mob boss arrested over alleged murder

Japanese police have arrested the leader of a particularly brutal yakuza organised crime syndicate for allegedly gunning down a man in public. Satoru Nomura, 67, the top leader of Kudokai - acknowledged as one of the most dangerous yakuza syndicates in Japan - was taken into custody over the 1998 fatal shooting of a 70-year-old man, a police spokesman said. Possession and use of firearms in Japan is heavily regulated. Television footage showed dozens of riot police wearing helmets and bulletproof vests milling around Nomura’s vast residence in Kitakyushu in western Japan.

He is suspected of firing a gun at point-black range (to kill the victim)… and of shooting a weapon in public.

A police spokesman

The victim was Kunihiro Kajiwara, the head of the local fishermen’s co-operative. Media said his killing may have been in retaliation for refusing to give favourable treatment to the yakuza group over public works in a local port. Four members of Kudokai were arrested in 2002 over the incident, of whom two were convicted, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported. Kudokai is one of the largest yakuza crime syndicates in the Kyushu region of western Japan, and is acknowledged as particularly dangerous yakuza group by local governments because of its apparent willingness to target civilians.

Asia-Pacific