SERIOUS & ORGANISED CRIME

Capital punishment ’s vie for control of

The Tokyo-based Sumiyoshi-kai, Japan’s second-largest yakuza group, has become embroiled in turf warfare with its rival, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Kosuke Takahashi examines the history and recent activities of the Sumiyoshi-kai as it attempts to consolidate its position.

The Sumiyoshi-kai, traditionally based in According to Dai Izuishi, a writer and former and around Tokyo, is under pressure owing to gang leader affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai, KEY POINTS KEY POINTS KEY POINTS a number of different factors. The country’s eco- the group used to extort approximately JPY100 • Three main yakuza groups – the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Sumiyoshi-kai and the nomic downturn is squeezing the Sumiyoshi- million (USD1 million) a month from adult en- Inagawa-kai – dominate Japan’s organised kai’s sources of revenue, such as the real estate tertainment and sex-related businesses in Gin- crime scene. sector or financial services. In addition, the za, Shibuya and Roppongi districts. The group group is still recovering from the imposition had to pay around 10 per cent of it as a rental fee • With the Yamaguchi-gumi making inroads of counter-criminal legislation in 1992, which to the Kokusui-kai, which had originally con- into the Sumiyoshi-kai’s base in Tokyo, for the first time defined the yakuza in law and trolled those areas in the post-war period. How- tensions are rising between the two groups, made it easier for the authorities to crack down ever, after September 2005, when the Kokusui- resulting in heightened violence. on their criminal activities. kai affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the The Yamiguchi-gumi is taking advantage of Kokusui-kai demanded the Sumiyoshi-kai pay • The Sumiyoshi-kai is seeking to diversify these pressures on the Sumiyoshi-kai to move rent of up to 50 per cent, further escalating ten- PA/xxx its revenue sources into business activities into its territory, provoking violent clashes. The sions between the two main groups. such as construction. Yamiguchi-gumi is based in Kansai, western The Sumiyoshi-kai is also engaged in a turf Japan, but police believe it has begun to move war with the Inagawa-kai, resulting in further This article was first available online at jir.janes. into the Kanto region of eastern Japan, which violence. In January 2003, Kenichiro Yamada, a com on 30 October. includes Tokyo, bringing it into direct conflict senior member of the Yano Mutsumi-kai crimi- with the Sumiyoshi-kai. nal group affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai, and This in itself is partly a result of the 1992 another member of the gang, Masato Kohinata, Key facts legislation, which put increased pressure opened fire in a bar in Maebashi city, Gunma on all yakuza groups and therefore reduced prefecture, on 25 January 2003, killing three in- Name: The Sumiyoshi-kai their criminal revenues. This encouraged the nocent bystanders and seriously wounding an- Level of threat: Medium Yamiguchi-gumi to begin moving into Tokyo, other, as well as the 60-year-old former leader Status: Active in an effort to secure new revenues. Previously, of a rival group. Yamada and Kohinata were Founded: 1958 it had avoided establishing any offshoots in the involved in the shooting under orders from Os- Group type: Centralised gang region, to avoid conflict with the Sumiyoshi-kai amu Yano, the head of the Yano Mutsumi-kai. and the Tokyo-based Ingawa-kai, Japan’s third The three men were sentenced to death for these largest yakuza group. murders in 2005. lthough Japan’s economy may now be However, in September 2005 the Yamiguchi- According to the court, the shooting was part exiting recession, the country’s criminal gumi absorbed the 1,060-strong Kokusui-kai, a of a turf war between the Sumiyoshi-kai and A groups are continuing to suffer from Tokyo-based local yakuza organisation, which Inagawa-kai syndicates. The Maebashi shooting the impact of falling criminal revenues, leading was active in the shopping and entertainment was aimed against the rival group member as a them to come into competition. Gang-related districts in Tokyo, such as Ginza, Shibuya and reprisal for the 2001 murders of two Sumiyoshi- violence is rising in Japan, with two of the coun- Roppongi, all lucrative turf in the capital. The kai members in a funeral house in Tokyo, ac- try’s long-established criminal yakuza groups Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said cording to police. coming into territorial conflict. In March 2008 Yamaguchi-gumi brought Kokusui-kai un- Hiroshige Suzuki, a gang member affiliated to der its control by welcoming Kazuyoshi Kudo Origins the Yamiguchi-gumi group, was stabbed to (the fourth head of the Kokusui-kai) as the The Sumiyoshi-kai is a federation of criminal death in Yashio city, near Tokyo. The following Yamaguchi-gumi’s supreme adviser. Kudo be- organisations in eastern Japan and centres on day, Atsushi Suzuki, affiliated to the Sumiyoshi- came sworn brothers with new Yamaguchi-gu- the Sumiyoshi family, which is based in Tokyo. kai group, was shot dead in nearby Fujimino mi leader Kenichi Shinoda through a sakazuki Although there are various theories about city, as part of what police suspect to have been (sake-sharing) ceremony in which they entered the origins of the Sumiyoshi-kai, the most com- a clash between the two powerful groups. into a so-called matrimonial relationship. monly accepted view among Japanese yakuza-

2 jir.janes.com l Jane’s Intelligence Review l December 2009 PA/xxx A newly appointed boss of a Tokyo-based yakuza syndicate reads out a pledge of allegiance in front of leading yakuza figures in 1991. According to National Police Agency data released in April, the Sumiyoshi-kai has 6,100 regular gang members and 6,600 associates.

watchers is that it can be traced back to the fa- gang was not prohibited. Those gambling rings, shuffle personnel and rebrand the organisation. mous gambler, Matsugoro Ito. He was born in or bakuto, became the forerunners of the mod- In June 1998, Hareaki Fukuda assumed 1846 in Sumiyoshi-cho, the central red light and ern Japanese criminal groups known as yakuza. the chairmanship of the Sumiyoshi-kai, and commercial district of Nihonbashi in Tokyo at Yoshimitsu Sekigami, the fourth president of Nishiguchi was promoted to president. Fukuda the end of the Edo period. Ito is now revered as the Sumiyoshi family, renamed the Minato-kai became president in 2005, with 76-year-old the first president of the Sumiyoshi family and the Sumiyoshi-kai in October 1964. Nishiguchi now virtually in retirement. In one of the founder of the Sumiyoshi-kai in the group’s The Sumiyoshi-kai was briefly dissolved in the first instances of yakuza leaders being legally formal historiography. The group, like other May 1965 after the government of Prime Min- targeted, both Nishiguchi and Fukuda were in yakuza gangs around the country, views itself as ister Hayato Ikeda (1960-1964) launched ‘First September 2007 ordered by the Tokyo District an honourable organisation consisting of men Mountain Top Operation’ just before the 1964 Court to pay JPY59 million (USD642,000) in with a ninko (chivalrous spirit). Tokyo Olympic Games. The operation aimed damages to the family of a South Korean student The Sumiyoshi-kai grew in influence dur- to eradicate the top 10 yakuza groups, such as killed in a botched revenge shooting between ing the period immediately after the Second the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Sumiyoshi-kai. the Sumiyoshi-kai and the Yamaguchi-gumi in World War, when the General Headquarters of In June 1964, the police arrested Sekigami on 2001. The civil suit was brought by the victim’s the Allied Powers occupied Japan. During this gambling charges and took 1,021 Sumiyoshi-kai family, who claimed he was the wrong target period, a faction of the Sumiyoshi family led members into custody, the most among the top and that the two Sumiyoshi-kai leaders, in addi- by Nobuyuki Uragami, calling itself ‘the private 10 yakuza groups. tion to the three hitmen involved in Yun’s slay- Ginza police’, infiltrated the commercial sec- Despite this pressure and Sekigami’s death in ing, were liable for his death. The ruling found tor. It extorted protection money from dance 1967, the group was rebuilt in 1969 as a union in favour of the family, stating “orders from the halls, beer gardens, bars and small restaurants – the Sumiyoshi Federation– by Masao Hori, top were conveyed to the very bottom of the fac- in Ginza, Tokyo, expanding their influence in the fifth president of the Sumiyoshi family. In tion, and the chain of command was absolute”. Japan’s capital. February 1991, four months after Hori died, In 1958, Shigesaku Abe, the third head of the Shigeo Nishiguchi became the sixth president Group structure Sumiyoshi family, formed the Minato-kai, the of the Sumiyoshi family and the chairman of The Sumiyoshi-kai differs from its main rival, prototype of the current Sumiyoshi-kai. This the Sumiyoshi-kai. At that time, the Sumiyoshi the Yamaguchi-gumi, in that it adopts a less cen- group was a federation and friendship club of Federation was again renamed, this time as the tralised command committee. As a federation of 28 gambling rings in the Kanto area of eastern Sumiyoshi-kai. The various renamings did not eastern Japan’s criminal groups, the Sumiyoshi- Japan. It was not in itself illegal, as under Japa- signify major changes in the group’s operations, kai has a looser chain of command. In terms nese legislation at the time membership of a but more the desire of the incoming leader to re- of leadership, each smaller group has a leader,

December 2009 l Jane’s Intelligence Review l jir.janes.com 3 SERIOUS & ORGANISED CRIME

behind the consolidation of the smaller yakuza groups and the increasingly violent rivalry be- tween the larger groups. Regarding personnel and recruitment, the Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa- kai account for most of the new yakuza recruit- ment. According to data released by the Nation- al Police Agency, in 1990 the number of those organisations’ members was 42,700, comprising 48.4 per cent of the yakuza population. By 2008, this number had reached 60,000, accounting for 72.6 per cent of the total. Most notably, between 1990 and 2008 the number of Yamaguchi-gumi members had grown rapidly from 29,200 to 38,000, up by 30 per cent. The Yamaguchi-gumi now accounts for 46 per cent of the country’s yakuza, reflect- ing its aggressive expansion into the Kanto area,

PA/xxx and its policy of affiliating with smaller Kanto- Residents of Tokyo’s Akasaka district gather for an emergency meeting to demand measures to based groups such as the Kokusui-kai. prevent the Inagawa-kai, Japan’s third-largest gang, from moving into a building in the area. Area of operation Although the Sumiyoshi-kai operates in 19 pre- and day-to-day operations are often carried out troversial political propaganda. fectures, mostly located in the eastern part of autonomously. However, as was the case with Japan, including Saitama, Hokkaido and Miy- the killing of the South Korean student, on oc- Personnel and recruitment agi, its key location remains Tokyo. According casions the Sumiyoshi-kai’s subordinate bodies In Japan, people excluded from society at large to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, obey directives from Fukuda. may tend to turn to criminal groups to make a as of the end of 2008, the Sumiyoshi-kai had According to National Police Agency data living. Around 60 per cent of yakuza members approximately 7,100 members and 260 affili- released in April, the Sumiyoshi-kai has 6,100 come from burakumin, the descendants of a ated groups, the largest among the Tokyo-based regular gang members and 6,600 associates, feudal outcast class, according to a 2006 speech gangs. It accounts for more than 40 per cent of comprising 15.4 per cent of the country’s total by Mitsuhiro Suganuma, a former officer of the the yakuza in Tokyo. 82,600 yakuza members. In May, the police es- Public Security Intelligence Agency. He also timated the Sumiyoshi-kai had a presence in 19 said that approximately 30 per cent of them are Leader biography of the country’s 47 prefectures. Japanese-born Koreans, and only 10 per cent Fukuda, the current head of the Sumiyoshi-kai, Since 20 October 1972, Sumiyoshi-kai has are from non-burakumin Japanese and Chinese was born in 1943 in Chiba prefecture, adjoining belonged to the Kanto Hatsu- Tokyo. In his early childhood, ka-kai, meaning Kanto region’s his family moved to Aomori ‘Society of the 20th day’, an Pullquote dit amcortie digna prefecture, the northernmost association promoting good area of Honshu, the main is- inter-group relations among facin heniatum duis augait land of Japan. the major eastern Japanese When he was 16, during Kanto-based crime syndicates, yakuza turf wars in Tokyo’s such as Matsuba-kai. In Japan, lam, vel et, quatet aliquat, Ginza district, he came across there is no law prohibiting Kusuo Kobayashi, a yakuza yakuza groups from creating quat. Ut veliquatue comau and a right-wing activist who such associations, meaning founded the Kobayashi-kai in that the association is a legal entity that can ne- ethnic groups. the 1960s, a group affiliated to the Sumiyoshi- gotiate between the different groups. The Kanto As such, during the recruitment process, kai. Fukuda joined the Kobayashi-kai and a Hatsuka-kai excludes the Yamaguchi-gumi on already existing social networks are highly decade later, while in his 30s he became an geographical grounds, as it based in and influential. Kinship, friendship and ‘superior- executive advisor to the Sumiyoshi-kai when not in Kanto. This means there is no negotiat- inferior type’ relationships, based on social Kobayashi died of illness in 1990, Fukuda took ing body able to smooth tensions between the classes or groupings entrenched in junior high over as head of the Kobayashi-kai. Subsequently Yamiguchi-gumi and the Sumiyoshi-kai, pro- or high school, are often used. Previously, he became chairman of the Sumiyoshi-kai in viding another trigger for violence. yakuza groups used to coerce young people into 1998 and became the leader in 2005, succeed- As well as groups involved in criminal activ- becoming yakuza, especially those who had al- ing Nishiguchi. Fukuda was arrested on 20 ity, the Sumiyoshi-kai also maintains right-wing ready gained a criminal record, dropped out of May 2001 for allegedly conspiring to obstruct organisations such as Nihon Seinensya and school or lacked funds to go on to higher edu- compulsory seizure of assets by creditors, and Dainihon Shukokai, which are legal organisa- cation. After the 1992 anti-gang law prohibited was found guilty and sentenced to two years in tions with an ostensibly political agenda. They such action, it became harder for yakuza groups prison with a four-year suspended sentence on serve to distract public attention from yakuza to recruit in this manner. This growing difficul- 16 January 2002. He became the first chairman activity through the dissemination of often con- ty in recruiting new members is another factor to be arrested in 36 years, after Sekigami was ap-

4 jir.janes.com l Jane’s Intelligence Review l December 2009 SERIOUS & ORGANISED CRIME

prehended in June 1964 on gambling charges. Commercial crime According to the White Paper on Police 2009 published by the National Police Agency, pres- sure on criminal revenues has meant that the Sumiyoshi-kai is having to resort not only to traditional fundraising activities such as extor- tion, gambling and drug trafficking, but also to diversified business activities, such as real estate, construction, financial and securities trading, by disguising itself behind legitimate private companies run by yakuza entrepreneurs. It uses its organisational power to tap profits or may use the threat of violence to gain insider in- formation before investing money in the stock market. Although it is difficult to provide an exact -es timate on how many entertainment businesses

the Sumiyoshi-kai runs, the police believe yaku- PA/xxx zas such as the Sumiyoshi-kai remain deeply in- A large sign reads ‘Get rid of gang syndicate’ in a park in Kobe, western Japan, in 2005. Counter- volved in those businesses, especially in Tokyo’s criminal legislation was passed in 1992 that defined the yakuza in law and made it easier for the bustling entertainment districts such as Aka- authorities to crack down on their criminal activities. saka, where the Sumiyoshi-kai’s headquarters are located. It is involving in eating and drink- Furthermore, in an effort to prevent yakuza syndicates or an associate of such organisa- ing establishments such as cabarets and bars, infiltration of financial institutions, Japanese tions. The new rules will also require that clients and entertainment businesses such as pachinko banks are planning to introduce new rules by signing contracts pledge to not fall under these (gaming) parlours and game centres. Although early 2010 that enable them to cancel deposits, categories in the future. Some regional banks it does not run those establishments directly, it loans and other contracts if the clients are found already adopted such rules earlier this fiscal extorts contributions as protection money from to be connected to criminal organisations. The year, and according to the association, nearly all business owners. Japanese Bankers Association is expected to re- banks plan to introduce them. Under the cur- In addition, the yakuza are now targeting lease sample rules to spur the adoption of such rent system, banks cannot cancel contracts just construction companies, banks and other finan- policies by banks across the country. because clients are found to have mob connec- cial institutions, extorting money by threaten- The sample rules will include a provision that tions. Cancellations are only possible when the ing them with forcible obstruction of business. helps eliminate criminal groups from a bank’s clients disrupt operations or engage in black- The yakuza use the threat of violence and black- clientele. It will clearly state that services will mailing. mail to interfere in people’s business. For ex- beCONCLUSIONCONCLUSION terminated should a customer turn out to be ample, in March 2008 the Tokyo Metropolitan in a criminal group, a firm affiliated with crime Police Department arrested Hajime Takagi, the Sumiyoshi-kai’s second-in-command, along- side several others, for allegedly trying to extort THREAT ASSESSMENT CONCLUSION money from a construction company involved THREAT ASSESSMENT in a new high-rise tower in front of Tokyo Sta- The Sumiyoshi-kai still remains strongly in itself may only lead to further potential tion. Takagi, who heads an affiliate group of the entrenched in Japanese society, particu- conflict with other yakuza groups attempt- Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate and serves as ‘vice- larly in Tokyo’s bustling shopping and en- ing to do the same. n president’ of the Sumiyoshi-kai, and his accom- THREATTHREATtertainment districts, such ASSESSMENT as AkasakaASSESSMENT and CONCLUSION plices are charged with attempted extortion, and Nishi-Azabu, and is the biggest yakuza or- RELATED ARTICLES the trial is ongoing. ganisation in eastern Japan. However, the WWW.JANES.COM ongoing negative effects of the 1992 anti- 1. Yakuza bared – The changing face of Counter-measures gang legislation and the current economic Japanese organised crime Business operators’ initiatives to eliminate yaku- downturn will continue to put pressure on za groups have gained momentum since the the group, leaving it vulnerable to attack 2. Shooting match – Gang-related killings enactment of the 1992 anti-gang law. Among by the Yamiguchi-gumi. surge in Japan these are anti-gang rallies, seminars on resisting Fierce rivalry between the Sumiyoshi- yakuza groups and campaigns to refuse extor- kai, the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Inagawa- 3. Sentinel: Security/Japan tion attempts. In December 2006, shop owners kai will therefore continue, increasing the Author from Kabukicho in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo – potential for violent attacks involving civil- Kosuke Takahashi is Jane’s correspondent in ians. At the same time, the Sumiyoshi-kai where had historically extorted money Tokyo. by forcing ‘security’ services on them – declared will continue trying to increase its rev- that they would not pay yakuzas from then on, enues by setting up front companies and Search for these articles at www.janes.com becoming the country’s leading example of anti- moving into financial crime; a tactic that yakuza action.

December 2009 l Jane’s Intelligence Review l jir.janes.com 5