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Yamaguchi-gumi top boss pays 110 million yen in compensation for 2006 Aoyama killing

Yamaguchi-gumi top boss pays 110 million yen in compensation to family of victim in 2006 Aoyama killing
Kenichi Shinoda
TOKYO (TR) – The top boss of Japan’s largest organized crime syndiate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, agreed on Thursday to pay 110 million yen in compensation to the family of a murder victim who was stabbed in 2006 after trying to evict gang members from a building, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 4).

The family had been seeking 187 million yen from Shinobu Tsukasa, who is also known as Kenichi Shinoda, and three top members of the gang, in a civil case filed with the Tokyo District Court. According to a lawyer for the family, an agreement for the lesser sum was reached due to an apology from Tadamasa Goto, the former boss of the Goto-gumi, once an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi.

“Because the family received a declaration of regret from Goto and a sufficient amount of money, the goal has been achieved,” said a statement from the lawyer.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the amount as paid in full to the family on Thursday.

In October of last year, Yamaguchi-gumi member Hideya Matsumoto was taken into custody by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in Yoshida, Shizuoka Prefecture for ordering the murder of real estate consultant Kazuoki Nozaki, who was found stabbed to death on a street in the Aoyama district of Minato Ward on the evening of March 5, 2006.

The 58-year-old Nozaki had been administering the systematic eviction of members of the Goto-gumi from the Shinjumiya Building in the Yoyogi area of Shibuya Ward for their unlawful occupation of the building’s units.

In August, papers were filed in the Tokyo District Court seeking damages against the Yamaguchi-gumi. “This incident is one example for how the Yamaguchi-gumi makes money,” read the claim document. “Therefore, Shinoda and the other bosses bear responsibility.”