OSAKA (TR) – Police have arrested a key boss in the Yamaguchi-gumi criminal syndicate over an incident last year in which a member seeking to leave the gang was forced to have his head shaved, reports Sankei Sports (Feb. 1).
On February 1, about 70 officers raided the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi, located in Kobe’s Nada Ward, in search of evidence in the case.
Last month, police arrested Joji Matsuoka, the 51-year-old boss of the Shoyu-kai, a second-tier gang of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and 14 other persons, including other upper-level gang members on suspicion of coercion under the Law on Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds.

In September of last year, the suspects allegedly used barber’s clippers to forcibly shave the head of a gang member, aged in his 30s, who sought to leave a life of crime inside the headquarters of the Shoyu-kai, located in Osaka City’s Kita Ward.
Within the tree-branch-like Yamaguchi-gumi hierarchy, Matsuoka is designated as a chokkei, meaning he is in a line directly leading to the top boss, who is Shinobu Tsukasa.