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  • In 2015, members of Japan’s largest organized crime group, the Yamaguchi gumi broke away

  • to form a new gang, Kobe Yamaguchi-Gumi. Similar past splits in the Yakuza have resulted in

  • years of warfare, assassinations and a terrorized Japanese public. At the same time, organized

  • crime is seen as a necessary evil by many Japanese, and their gangs are often revered

  • in popular culture. So, just how powerful is the Yakuza?

  • Well, the Yakuza is not one group, it is an umbrella term for all of Japan’s organized

  • crime groups. With more than 50 thousand members spread over 21 independently-run cartels,

  • the Yakuza is one of the most powerful mafia-like group in the world. Their largest and most

  • well-known syndicate is Yamaguchi-gumi. In 2014, this faction took in $6.6 billion dollars

  • The Yakuza’s presence in Japan dates back to the 17th century, however they remained

  • unorganized and largely powerless until the wake of World War Two. At the time, the US

  • had just bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving Japan and its economy in ruins. As a result,

  • the government employed strict food rations on its citizens, and basic goods became very

  • valuable in black markets. The Yakuza stepped in to manage those marketplaces, gaining both

  • profits and control over neighborhoods and towns. Some liken this to the way prohibition

  • strengthened the US mafia.

  • Today, Yakuza cartels get most of their money through fraud, bribery, drug trafficking and

  • blackmail. The Yakuza’s transnational network of spies extends as far as Europe and the

  • Americas, and the group is known to outsource assassinations and other criminal acts. Yakuza

  • gangsters manipulate politicians and powerful businesspeople by leveraging incriminating

  • insider information In the infamous 2008 hoax, a Yamaguchi Gumi front company got away with

  • a $350 million dollar loan from Lehman Brothers, which was one of America’s most powerful

  • investment banks at the time. Similar schemes, combined with constant manipulation of the

  • Japanese stock market, has made the Yamaguchi-gumi the country’s second-largest private equity

  • group. Even members of Japan’s ruling party have allegedly accepted bribes and otherwise

  • associated themselves with Yakuza syndicates.

  • But despite their pervasive criminal activity, Yakuza gangsters are often seen as do-gooders,

  • and their cartels are glorified in Japanese media. Yakuza members work out of office buildings

  • and carry business cards, and cartels are often featured in comic books and fan magazines.

  • The Japanese mafia is even known to carry out charitable acts. Yakuza gangs were among

  • the first to deliver aid to victims of the 1995 earthquake and the 2011 Tsunami. What’s

  • more, Yakuza membership itself is not illegal. And although Japanese police have cracked

  • down on gang activity in the 21st century, law enforcement is generally incapable of

  • controlling the Yakuza. This is because white collar crime is generally hard to prove, and

  • police lack the resources to track down most organized crime.

  • So just how powerful is the Japanese mafia? Well, theyre deeply intertwined in Japanese

  • society, and their largest faction is worth roughly twice that of Mexico’s biggest drug

  • cartel. Their international crime syndicates are among the most centralized in the world,

  • making it easy to secure mass amounts of money from the Japanese economy. So whether it be

  • as heroes or villains, the Yakuza is a powerful and influential part of Japan.

  • While the Yakuza is one of the the biggest mafia-groups in the world, it isn’t the

  • only one. Transnational crime accounts for around a trillion dollars worth of revenue

  • worldwide, so what are some of the other groups in organized crime? Thanks for watching! Don’t

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In 2015, members of Japan’s largest organized crime group, the Yamaguchi gumi broke away

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黑道有多強大? (How Powerful Is The Yakuza?)

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    BH 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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