TOKYO (TR) – Shigeo Nishiguchi, the chairman of the Sumiyoshi-kai organized crime group, died in Tokyo on Tuesday, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
In the early morning, Nishiguchi, who was 88, died due to natural causes at a hospital, police said, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Sept. 12).
As of the end of last year, the Sumiyoshi-kai had 3,100 members. The gang operates in Tokyo and 17 other administrative districts in Japan.
In 2002, Nishiguchi assumed the role of chairman. In 2016, seven female plaintiffs lodged a suit against Nishiguchi and other members of the Sumiyoshi-kai for 220 million yen.
The suit, which is still in court, seeks to hold Nishiguchi and the others as “employers” for underlings who carried out so-called “special fraud” cases, in which victims are conned in fictitious investments.
