TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three persons, including a former member of a bosozoku group, over the alleged extortion of a male adult video (AV) star, reports Nikkan Sports (Jan. 20).
On five occasions in February, 2016, Shigeru Matsushima, a 39-year-old former upper-lever member of Kanto Rengo, Kazuhiko Matsumoto, the 49-year-old manager of a strip club, and one other person allegedly attempted to extort a total of 2 million yen from the male star.
Matsumoto denies the allegations, saying that his intention was not to make a threat. Matsushima and the other suspect have declined to comment on the charges.
Matsushima is also a former AV director who worked under the name Matsushima Cross.
In carrying out the crime, the suspects falsely claimed to the actor that his fraternization with an AV actress was in violation of an industry rule and that he must pay the amount, according to an anti-organized crime division of the police.
In 2013, the National Police Agency began classifying bosozoku gangs as “pseudo-yakuza” groups to better reflect the true state of their activities. The arrests are a part of the intensification of the ongoing crackdown on the gangs, police said.
