HYOGO (TR) – Details are beginning to emerge regarding the splintering of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group, a development that comes not two years since its formation, reports TV Asahi (Apr. 30).
According to investigative sources with the Hyogo Prefectural Police, the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi is splitting due to dissatisfaction on the part of upper-level members with managerial operations.
At a meeting held in Amagasaki City on Sunday, it was revealed that dissenting members are expected to form a new gang called the Ninkyo Dantai Yamaguchi-gumi, which will be headed by Yoshinori Oda.
This latest upheaval in Japan’s criminal underworld once again has law enforcement on edge. In September of 2015, more than a dozen affiliate gangs of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation’s largest criminal syndicate, left to form a rival gang, the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, headed by Kunio Inoue, 68, who also serves as the chairman of the Yamaken-gumi.
Oda, 50, is a the vice-head of the Yamaken-gumi, whose members are the core of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. It is not known how many members will leave the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi for the new organization.
Since the formation of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, law enforcement had been taking measures to alleviate violence between the two gangs. With three syndicates now in the mix, police are once again actively gathering intelligence in an effort to stem any potential violence.
