Ex-Kanto Rengo leader sentenced to 11 years in Roppongi beating death

TOKYO (TR) – The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced a former leader of the Kanto Rengo bosozoku motorcycle gang to prison on charges of manslaughter in last year’s beating death of a restaurant manager in the Roppongi entertainment area, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 19).

Presiding judge Tomonau Onizawa sentenced 32-year-old Taichi Ishimoto to 11 years in prison for assisting in the attack of 31-year-old Ryosuke Fujimoto. The prosecution had sought 22 years.

Onizawa said that while Ishimoto was not present at the time of the beating he did conspire in the crime by conveying instructions to underlings who did carry out the assault. Ishimoto had claimed innocence at the start of the trial.

Early on September 2 of last year, a group of nine men in ski masks and armed with metal bats arrived at club Flower and assaulted Fujimoto, who was drinking in the club’s VIP room with a party of five or six persons.

The suspects were seen fleeing the scene in two vans at 3:45 a.m. Fujimoto suffered substantial head injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died one hour and 20 minutes later.

In August, six other suspects received suspended sentences for assembling the baseball bats and assisting in the attack.