yakuza

That effort has also led to a greater number of defectors like Nakamoto, who are trying to reinvent themselves after a life within the family-like hierarchies of the yakuza, ruled by a strict code of loyalty.

It was monitored by police with the understanding that the yakuza would take care of petty crime on its turf and leave ordinary citizens alone.

The laws were designed to isolate the yakuza from society, said Noboru Hirosue, a prominent expert on criminal sociology and the yakuza.

Now that there’s a precedent of a death sentence, Kudo-kai won’t be seen as some extreme case, but all yakuza will be seen as the same threat.

Yakuza membership is plummeting — the result of a decade of intensifying crackdowns targeting organized crime and the yakuza’s reach into illegal activities including drug trafficking, money laundering and gambling.

The Japanese judges have established that yakuza bosses have “employer liability” for the actions of their subordinates.

Japan has 21 major yakuza groups with listed offices and a very public existence.

The yakuza were traditionally federations of gamblers (bakuto) and street merchants (tekiya).

Japanese law enforcement uses all the laws available to crack down on the yakuza.

According to the National Police Agency, yakuza membership peaked in 1963, at approximately 184,100 members.