TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday announced the arrest of five suspects, including members of an organized crime group and a motorcycle gang, on charges of threatening a hostess club in Taito Ward earlier this year, reports Nippon News Network (Nov. 21).
On Wednesday, officers took Narushi Sonoda, a 34-year-old gangster in the Yamaguchi-gumi, and Tsuyoshi Hirose, 42, a member of the bosozoku group Dragon, and three other suspects into custody for allegedly threatening the 40-year-old female manager of a Chinese hostess club in the Ueno area so that she would pay 20,000 yen per week in “protection” money — termed mikajimeryo.
At approximately 1:30 a.m. on March 30, the group claimed it would “smash the shop” if she did not pay, police said. The suspects began accosting the manager in the street in December of last year.
All five suspects have reportedly denied the allegations, telling police that they did not demand money.
Last year, the National Police Agency began classifying bosozoku gangs as “pseudo-yakuza” groups to better reflect the true state of their activities.
Dragon is comprised of second- and third-generation returnees from China who came to Japan after the end of World War II.