TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of multiple organized crime and motorcycle gang members for participation in a brawl that erupted last year in Kita Ward, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 20).
Officers took three Yamaguchi-gumi members, including 46-year-old Kiyokazu Sugiyama, and four members of the bosozoku gang Dragon into custody on charges of infliction of physical violence during a fight that broke out on a street near JR Akabane Station on the night of July 29.
Sugiyama suffered a skull fracture that required six months to heal due to being struck by an eight-kilogram wood plank. Four other participants were also injured.
All of the suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.
Police used security camera footage to identify the combatants, and are still seeking the apprehension of three other participants in the incident.
In 2013, the National Police Agency began classifying bosozoku gangs as “pseudo-yakuza” groups to better reflect the true state of their activities.
Dragon is comprised of second- and third-generation returnees from China who came to Japan after the end of World War II.
According to police, a 36-year-old member of Dragon who was arrested heads a separate group that has recently increased its activities in collecting “protection money” from shops in entertainment areas in Akabane and Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, reports public broadcaster NHK (May 20).
Police are now strengthening efforts to ensure that further problems do not result between the two groups.
