May 15, 2020 (Japan Times) - A key strategy to eradicate an organized crime group — typically a tight pyramid organization — is cracking down on the top figures and thereby weakening the group.
Looking back, that was exactly what Fukuoka Prefectural Police was aiming for — arrest senior members of the Kitakyushu-based Kudokai, the only crime syndicate Fukuoka designated as such in 2012 to keep them on a tight leash.
The prefectural police launched an operation in September 2014, leading to the arrests of the group’s leader, Satoru Nomura, now 73, who was later convicted of ordering murder and attempted murder, among other charges, along with other executives.
Nomura is also on trial for tax evasion charges, for which the Fukuoka High Court sentenced him to three years in prison and an ¥80 million fine. He has since appealed to the Supreme Court.
But before it all went to trial, the prefectural police had built an intricate investigation plan using every legal option ahead of the operation on Sept. 11, 2014, meticulously gathering information and engaging in information warfare to get ahead of the game.
In January 2014, the Osaka High Court convicted an executive of an organized crime group for conspiring to murder one of its rank-and-file members.
Fukuoka investigators started applying it as precedent for their unresolved cases involving Kudokai.
It was in the summer of that year that Fukuoka Prefectural Police chief Masato Higuchi decided to go ahead with the Kudokai operation, aiming to arrest the top figures in the 1998 murder case and the slashing of the female nurse.
Higuchi and other investigators came up with various tactics and strategies, raiding the homes of Nomura and other suspects in the group many times.
They were aiming to shake up the organization by sending a message that they know that top members of the group are involved. At the same time, the numerous raids gave them the impression that arrests won’t be made simply through raids.
On the day of Sept. 11, 2014, Nomura was arrested after he was questioned by police and went back home, believing he probably won’t be arrested.
There were 3,800 investigators involved in the entire operation. In the second wave of the operation, investigators arrested all top three figures as well as key rank-and-file members.
