Japan | 'You will regret this': Yakuza boss's chilling threat to judge after being sentenced to death
Satoru Nomura, the 74-year-old head of the Kudo-kai yakuza group which has some 220 active members, denied accusations he masterminded the grisly crimes.
A Japanese crime boss issued a sinister warning to a judge after he was sentenced to death for ordering a murder and attacks on citizens.
Satoru Nomura, the 74-year-old head of the Kudo-kai yakuza group which has some 220 active members, denied accusations he masterminded the grisly crimes.
Fukuoka District Court confirmed it had sentenced Nomura to death, however, Japanese media said there was a lack of evidence directly linking him to the crimes.
"I asked for a fair decision… You will regret this for the rest of your life," Nomura ominously told the judge after his sentencing, the Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper reported.
The Kudo-kai is the largest yakuza mafia in the Kitakyushu area and is famed for its military style approach, using the likes of machine guns and hand grenades in its activities.
Yakuza - the English equivalent for the term gangster - have been long-tolerated in Japan as a necessary evil to ensure order on the streets - but a crackdown on gangs, along with waning social tolerance and a weak economy have resulted in falling numbers of yakuza.
"The criminal acts [of Nomura] were extremely vicious, and the decision of capital punishment is unavoidable," presiding Judge Ben Adachi said in the ruling.
It is believed to be the 1st death penalty handed to the leader of a crime syndicate specified by law - and could have an effect on police investigations into crime gangs in the future.
Nomura was found guilty of ordering the fatal shooting of a former boss of a fisheries cooperative, major news outlets reported.
He was also said to be behind a 2014 attack on a relative of the murder victim, as well as a 2013 knife attack against a nurse at a clinic where Nomura was seeking treatment.
The mafia boss was also accused of being behind the 2012 shooting of a former police official who had investigated the Kudo-kai. The victim survived, but with serious injuries to his waist and legs.
Fumio Tanoue, Nomura's number two, was jailed for life on Tuesday.
Unlike the Italian Mafia or Chinese triads, yakuza are not illegal and each group has its own headquarters known to the police.
Japan is one of the last countries in the developed world to retain the death penalty and has more than 100 inmates on death row.
Source: Sky News, Staff, August 26, 2021
Yakuza Boss First to be Sentenced to Death in Japan
Satoru Nomura, the 74-year-old head of the Kudo-kai Yakuza syndicate in the Fukuoka prefecture of Japan, was handed the death penalty on Wednesday for ordering 4 civilian attacks, including one murder.
It is reportedly the first time that the head of a Yakuza group — an organized crime syndicate in Japan — has been sentenced to death.
Nomura’s second-in-command, Fumio Tanoue, was given a life sentence. Prosecutors had requested a death sentence for Nomura and a life sentence for Tanoue on top of a US$180,000 fine.
In all 4 attacks, the direct assailants and co-conspirators have already been convicted, so the main purpose of Nomura’s trial was to establish whether the crimes were carried out with his approval.
The presiding judge of the Fukuoka District Court, Ben Adachi, decided the case despite lacking direct evidence that Nomura ordered the attacks. He agreed with the prosecutors’ argument that the coordinated attacks could not have taken place without Nomura and Tanoue’s orders, given the tightly controlled chain-of-command hierarchy within the Kuda-kai.
Nomura and Tanoueu have maintained their innocence throughout the proceedings and will both likely appeal the court decision.
According to local news reports, Nomura told Judge Adachi after the ruling, “You'll regret this for the rest of your life."
The assault victims included the head of a fishing cooperative, a nurse, and a dentist. The 4th victim was a former police officer who was shot dead in an attempt to put pressure on local law enforcement. All were attacked between 1998 and 2014.
Operating in southwest Japan, the Kudo-kai is one of the largest and most nefarious of Japan’s organized crime groups and the only to be officially designated as a dangerous crime syndicate.
The Yakuza often engage in so-called ‘protection rackets’ with local parlors and bars who pay them to eject rowdy customers. Operating frequently under a legitimate business front, they’re also known for extortion and blackmail schemes and participating in drug and human trafficking.
It’s not illegal in Japan to be in a Yakuza group, although in recent years the government has tried to more severely crack down on their activities. The severity of both sentences may influence future legal proceedings with gang members.
Source: occrp.org, Staff, August 29, 2021
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde