Yakuza who dropped pants arrested, Kyushu cracks down after dentist stabbed

FUKUOKA (TR) – Following a stabbing last month in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefectural Police are intensifying control over the Kudo-kai organized crime group, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (June 5).

On Friday morning, roughly 40 investigators searched the Kudo-kai’s headquarters, which is located in Kokurakita Ward, on suspicion of attempted murder. All told, officers have arrested 10 executive-level gangsters on a variety of charges in the days since the incident.

On May 26, a male dentist, 29, was stabbed by two assailants in a parking lot in Kitakyushu as he commuted to work.

The victim received serious wounds to at least two locations on his legs but managed to maintain consciousness while being transported to a nearby hospital.

Crackdown

As a part of the crackdown, papers were sent to prosecutors on Thursday for Masakichi Yamanaka, 63, a Kudo-kai member who allegedly pulled down his pants during questioning on April 14. He has been charged with violating public nuisance laws.

Other charges have been for providing false information for the renewal of a driver’s license and the misrepresentation of an identity in a rental agreement.

Police suspect involvement of organized crime in the stabbing incident due to the background of the victim.

In February of 1998, the stabbing victim’s great uncle, then aged 70, was shot and killed by two members of the Kudo-kai.

Last December, Tadayoshi Ueno, a 70-year-old a fishery cooperative president, was shot dead near his residence in Wakamatsu Ward. He was the victim’s grandfather.