TOKYO (TR) – Five persons, including two members of a criminal syndicate, have not been prosecuted over the alleged assaulting of a man in Shinjuku Ward last year, reports TBS News (March 30).
On the night of June 5, Ryoji Hirai, a 46-year-old member of the Kohei-ikkai, another gangster, 28, and the other three suspects dragged the man, believed to be a street scout, from a vehicle in the Kabukicho red-light district.
After the suspects allegedly assaulted the man, one of them threatened, “Next time you come to Shinjuku, I’ll use an ice pick to poke your eyes.”
All of the suspects declined to comment on the allegations upon their arrests last year, police said at the time. One of them was later released.
On March 25, prosecutors with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the non-prosecution of the remaining four. No reason for the non-prosecution was given.
The Kohei-ikkai is an affiliate gang of the Sumiyoshi-kai. Prior to the arrests of the five, police had already taken other members of the Sumiyoshi-kai into custody over a brawl that took place in Kabukicho the night before.
According to previous reports, the fight, which involved around 100 persons, was between two groups engaged in a dispute over the scouting of women to work in the red-light district’s hostess bars and various sex businesses.
