TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an organized crime member for allegedly attempting to extort a male street tout for sex businesses in Taito Ward, reports Nippon News Network (Jan. 9).
In April of last year, Atsushi Kawano, a 42-year-old member of the Kokusui-kai, an affiliate gang of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and one other person allegedly demanded payment of 1 million yen for mikajimeryo — or “protection money” — from a male employee of fuzoku businesses operating in Ueno and other locations.
“You are soliciting for customers in an area that requires payment to us,” the gangster reportedly said.
Kawano partially denies the allegations, saying that “the truth differs slightly,” according to the Motofuji Police Station.
The man targeted in April supervises a group of street touts who solicit for variosu sex businesses. The man was tasked with collecting mikajimeryo payments from the various group members and handing the funds over to Kawano, police said.
