HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police suspect that the assault of a gang member in Kobe early Saturday is the first incident of violence related to the recent split of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group.
At around 3:30 a.m., a former member Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi sought help from police, according to Nippon News Network (May 6). The gangster told police that he was jumped by several men after he emerged from a vehicle in Chuo Ward before they fled the scene.
The gangster, who suffered minor injuries, including wounds to his head, is a current member of the Ninkyo Dantai Yamaguchi-gumi. Headed by Yoshinori Oda, the gang was formed at the end of last month by a number of dissenting members of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
Police suspect the attack is directly connected to the formation of the Ninkyo Dantai Yamaguchi-gumi.
The split of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi was not the first in the nation’s criminal underworld in recent memory. In September of 2015, more than a dozen affiliate gangs of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation’s largest criminal syndicate, left to form the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, headed by Kunio Inoue, 68, who also serves as the chairman of the Yamaken-gumi.
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.