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Yakuza members arrested for forcing fellow gangster to trim finger

TOKYO (TR) – Osaka prefectural police on Monday arrested two members of the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group for forcing a fellow member to engage in the traditional finger-cutting ritual last year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 4).

Officers from the Sakai Police station took Yamaguchi-gumi members Giichi Yamamoto and Yasuyuki Teramura, both 53 years old, into custody for allegedly forcing a 24-year-old member of the Tamachi-gumi, a subsidiary group of Yamaguchi-gumi, to remove the little finger of his left hand on September 29 in atonement for a mistake.

“To understand between right and wrong, cut off your finger,” Yamamoto is alleged to have said.

The incident took place at the Tamachi-gumi headquarters the day after the victim, who is no longer a gang member, was late in picking up Yamamoto from an izakaya restaurant.

Both suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.

According to investigators, Yamamoto became agitated upon hearing the former gang member’s excuse for being delayed and forced him to perform the act that has become a standard means of making amends in the yakuza world.