OSAKA -- A former gangster found dead last week just as Osaka police began investigating his suspected involvement in a series of shootings may have had money issues with one of the victims, investigation sources said Monday.
Kazuo Konoura, 57, who ran a money-lending business from his home in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, is the main suspect in three separate shootings Wednesday night that left one person dead and two in critical condition. The fatality, 50-year-old pub manager Takeyoshi Kono, appears to have been one of Konoura's clients.
A document seized from Konoura's apartment, where he was found hanged in an apparent suicide one day after the shootings, appears to be a list of about 200 people to whom the ex-gang member lent money. Kono's name and address were included on the list. The list was kept in a safe at Konoura's house attached to a copy of a map of the area around Kono's pub in Izumiotsu.
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