The Yakuza, or Japanese mob syndicate, has long been entrenched in the land of the rising sun. A legal entity in Japan, the Yakuza profits from a wide spectrum of sources, including loan sharking, prostitution and surprisingly legit storefronts such as real estate and entertainment businesses. Jake Adelstein, a former reporter who covered stories on the Yakuza for the Yomiuri Shimbun, a newspaper with the largest daily circulation in the world (over 10 million!), recently spoke to 60 minutes about his famous investigative reporting on Yakuza boss Tadamasa Goto. Goto, who received a liver transplant at UCLA, apparently paid over $1 million for the organ and underwent the transplant despite being on the waiting list for six weeks, jumping about 80 people in line.
Interestingly, Adelstein says it’s common for Yakuza to face liver problems because “the tattoos are so dense that it’s very hard to sweat, which means when you can’t get rid of the toxins in your body, that’s also very hard on the liver.”
For more on the Japanese gangsters, buy Adelstein’s book Tokyo Vice or check out his website. It’s a treasure trove for the Yakuza junkie, with some astonishing tidbits. For example, the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest Yakuza group which holds about 40,000 members, rakes in more than $50 million in private equity every month. The book also noted that the grandfather of former prime minister Koizumi Junichiro was not only a cabinet minister, but also a tattooed member of the Inagawa-kai crime group!
So what is Goto a.k.a. the John Gotti of Japan up to now? The scary guy was actually booted from Yamaguchi-gumi because of the unwanted publicity he drew, and is now seeking Buddhist priesthood.
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i remember when i was in hk for summer vacation, one night my brother called me from the streets that there are 50 vs 50 triad fight on the street, with cleavers and baseball bat, just like in the movies, pretty intense
Great post this will really help me.