Japan’s largest criminal organization, Yakuza, promised to end the long war with a rival faction and refrain from causing “problems,” the authorities said.
This happens while mobster groups face fall in the number of members and increased police repression.
Three senior members of Yamaguchi-Gumi visited the Hyogo Province Police headquarters on Monday (7). They delivered a letter to the police promising to “end all internal fights” and “never cause problems,” police told police CNN .
Yamaguchi-Gumi, one of the world’s largest and richest criminal gangs, is involved in a bloody dispute with dissident groups since 2015, when more than a dozen factions have separated to form the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
Since then, growing violence between the two conflict criminal organizations has resulted in gangsman -killed or stabbed gangsters in dozens of incidents, police said.
The armed conflict, which often erupts on public roads in cities in downtown and western Japan, has pressured authorities to harden gang restrictions.
“Yakuza” is a generic term for Japanese organized crime groups, which are in a gray zone in the country.
Although not prohibited, groups are regulated and monitored by the authorities.
In 2020, police formally designated Yamaguchi-gumi and the dissident group as gangs at war-giving police the power to increase vigilance, restrict their activities, including prohibiting their offices, and raising funds.
“His conflicts became serious and unpredictable,” the National Police Agency said in 2021.
In the last five years, police have also placed several other gangs under strict surveillance.
It is unclear whether the rival dissident group, Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, responded to the promise of ceasefire.
Police said they would be “closely monitoring the movements of both groups,” as the statement to end the territorial war could be unilateral.
Fall of affiliation with Yakuza groups in recent decades
In 2024, the number of members of organized crime unions was 18,800, reaching a record level and falling below 20,000 for the first time, according to police data.
These official numbers show that the number of active members of the Yamaguchi-Gumi gang has fallen almost in half since 2014-falling from 6,000 to 3,300 at the end of last year.
The Kobe Yamaguchi-Gumi gang had about 120 members last year.
With the fall in the number of Yakuza members, however, the Japanese authorities are dealing with a new criminal phenomenon: Tokuryu.
These anonymous gangs are not affiliated with a Yakuza family, operating individually or in makeshift groups.
About 10,000 members of gangs Tokuryu were investigated last year, with police linking them to violent thefts in Tokyo and fraud schemes involving romantic blows and social media investments.
This content was originally published in a criminal organization Yakuza promises to end Japan’s gang war on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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