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April 02, 2025
 

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ORGANIZED CRIME

Violin, a day care center for the elderly, is housed in a building that used be an office of the Kudokai crime syndicate in the city of Kitakyushu. It retains the original look of the Kudokai facility, with its thick steel-plated front door, glittering chandelier and marble floor.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Oct 28, 2024
Former yakuza office repurposed to become elderly care facility
The building that houses Violin, a day care center for the elderly, was once one of the main facilities for the Kudokai syndicate.
A police officer stands guard on Oct. 16 near a home in Yokohama where an elderly man was found dead in a robbery-murder case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 24, 2024
'Dark lists' shed light on how Japan's robbers narrow down targets
Since August, at least seven residents have been robbed across Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures with a similar modus operandi.
Demonstrators burn an Indian flag and deface a placard depicting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi during a Sikh rally outside the Consulate General of India in Toronto on Sept. 25.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 16, 2024
The notorious syndicate Canada says is India's proxy
Ottawa said there was "credible" evidence linking New Delhi to the killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
The Gifu Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Gifu
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 11, 2024
Yakuza member arrested over insurance fraud after cutting off own finger
The arrest stems from an incident in which a yakuza member allegedly cut off his own finger but reported it as an accidental injury to medical personnel in Tokyo.
A new U.N. report claims that use of the Telegram messaging app by criminal networks in Southeast Asia has enabled a fundamental change in the way organized crime operates.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2024
Southeast Asian crime networks thriving on Telegram, U.N. reports
Scrutiny of the app has brought attention to the criminal liability of app providers and the debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins.
A sketch of Shinichi Mitate, a key suspect in a 2012 murder case, created by police investigators imagining his current appearance
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 30, 2024
Tokyo police release new sketches of 2012 nightclub murder suspect
The police are calling for information on the suspect, saying the 2012 murder should not be forgotten.
Two women, suspected of being members of the Pink Panda gang, have been arrested over allegations relating to the theft of pearl pendants from an international jewelry exhibition at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2024
Possible 'Pink Panda' gang members arrested in Japan
The two women are alleged to have stolen six pearl pendants valued at a total of ¥1,865,000 at a jewelry exhibition in Tokyo.
A police officer distributes leaflets on Osaka's revised ordinance to eliminate organized crime groups in the city's Minami entertainment district on July 1.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2024
Osaka steps up drive to ensure expo and casino resort free of organized crime
The revised ordinance also targets the sex work industry, street solicitation and scouting.
Devices used in a scam center in Manila that has been shut down by police. Scam centers have mushroomed across Southeast Asia, with crime syndicates luring, kidnapping or coercing workers into predatory online activity and raking in billions of dollars.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 25, 2024
Raid on Philippine gambling hub unravels elaborate scheme implicating mayor
The scandal has fueled calls for a ban on the online gambling industry over its links to financial scams, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking, torture and murder.
A police officer handles money seized during an operation against 'Ndrangheta in this photo taken at an unknown location in Italy on Sept. 6.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2024
Italy's mafia forgoes extortion, turns to white-collar crime
With extortion rackets falling out of fashion and murders largely frowned upon by the godfathers, Italy's mafia is venturing into white-collar crime.
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 6, 2024
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
Unlike the yakuza, which have a hierarchical structure and strict codes of conduct, they lack a clear organizational structure and thrive on anonymity.
A police box set up on a road in Bangkok. Thai police have obtained arrest warrants for two Japanese men suspected of being involved in the death of another Japanese man.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2024
Body parts of Japanese man found in Thailand
Police believe that the man was a member of a fraud organization.
Customs officials at Narita Airport discovered stimulants inside a conveyor belt roller that was shipped from Mexico to Japan in June last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 23, 2024
Six arrested on suspicion of smuggling stimulants
The suspects, including a senior figure in a crime syndicate in Saitama Prefecture, allegedly hid some 15 kilograms of drugs inside a conveyor belt roller.
Sicily and organized crime have been synonymous since at least the 19th century. The island's mafia infiltration is extending beyond violence, manifesting in subtle economic coercion and sophisticated tax evasion schemes.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2024
Sicily's mafia is expanding its white collar crime
Economic inequality fuels mafia exploitation, with wealthy enclaves thriving while impoverished areas provide fertile ground for criminal activity.
Police officers conduct a special inspection of Shinjuku Ward's Kabukicho in Tokyo in December.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 4, 2024
Japan's police crack down on host clubs
More than 200 administrative penalties have been issued against such establishments nationwide for various violations, National Police Agency says.
Mobile phones seized from an apartment room in Phnom Penh in relation to a special fraud case are shown at a police station in Saitama Prefecture in November.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 22, 2024
Arrests of 'tokuryū' gang members estimated to have topped 10,000
More than 10,000 members of so-called tokuryū criminal groups are believed to have been arrested in Japan in the three years through 2023, a National Police Agency (NPA) survey showed Thursday.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government holds an event in Tokyo in November to increase people's awareness for fraud and 'dark' part-time jobs. Recruitment ads for such jobs formed some 90% of deletion requests made to internet service providers last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 15, 2024
Nearly 3,000 postings for 'dark' part-time jobs removed from internet in 2023
Recruitment ads for such jobs formed the bulk of deletion requests made to Japanese internet service providers last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2024
Death sentence overturned for Kudokai gang boss
The criminal mastermind remained expressionless and stared directly at the judge as it was announced that the death sentence had been overturned.
Takeshi Ebisawa poses with a rocket launcher during a meeting with an informant and two undercover Danish police officers at a warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark on Feb. 3, 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 22, 2024
U.S. charges criminal group leader over conspiring to sell nuclear material
Prosecutors allege that Takeshi Ebisawa "brazenly" moved material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Myanmar.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 1, 2024
Wanted gang member Shigeyuki Kin held by Nagano police
The suspect in a 2020 attempted murder was alone at the time of the arrest and did not resist, admitting to the police that he was indeed the fugitive.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
NFL comeback star Damar Hamlin shares life-saving message in Tokyo
Damar Hamlin poses with students at The American School in Japan in Chofu, western Tokyo, on Thursday.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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