On the 24th August, Presiding Judge Ben Adachi of the Fukuoka District Court, sentenced Satoru Nomura, the 74-year-old head of the Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Kudo-kai, to death.
It is the first time the boss of a designated organized crime syndicate has been given the death sentence, and it is expected to set a new precedent for future investigations of such crime groups.
Upon hearing the sentence, Nomura spoke out to directly threaten the judge.
“I asked you to make a fair decision. I heard you became a judge in Tokyo, huh? You’ll regret this for the rest of your life.”
Satoru Nomura, speaking to Presiding Judge Ben Adachi
Also in the dock was 65-year-old Fumio Tanoue, Nomura’s second in command, who was sentenced to life in prison.
The two defendants had been found guilty of murder and violation of the anti-organized crime law in four attacks on civilians. They were also found guilty of involvement in the shooting of a Fukuoka police officer in 2012 and for a plot to stab a nurse who was treating Nomura for penis enlargement.
“Unlike the United States, Italy and South Korea, yakuza are not banned. I believe Japan has to get to a point where the existence of these syndicates are prohibited,”
Kazuhiro Nakamura, prosecutor
Yakuza are a transnational organized crime syndicate in Japan involved in drug dealing, extortion, smuggling and racketeering.
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