Inagawa-kai’s General Headquarters Issues “Unusual Notice” to Its Affiliated Organizations: “No Cell Phones at Meetings

The Inagawa-kai is the third most powerful gang in Japan after the Yamaguchigumi VI and the Sumiyoshi-kai. Inagawa-gumi, the origin of the organization, was established in 1949, shortly after the end of World War II. Since then, the group has been active for a long time and is still a prestigious organization with approximately 1,700 members (as of the end of 2011).

This spring, the general headquarters of the Inakawakai issued an “unprecedented notice” to its affiliated organizations. The notice prohibited the use of smartphones and other such devices at meetings. The ban was apparently taken out of concern that the content of the meetings would be leaked to outside parties, since the widespread use of smartphones has made it easy to take pictures and record videos.

The title of the letter is “Inagawa-kai Sohonbu Goshoukou Notification,” which reads,

The title of the letter is “Notice from the Inagawa-kai General Headquarters” and it states: “Possession of smart phones, cell phones, and smart watches is strictly prohibited in the Inagawa Kaikan during meetings (regular direct visit meetings and board of directors meetings). The person in charge of each office and the person on duty are requested to notify the head of each family and the head of each clan.

The message was sent from “Inagawa-kai. The source of the letter is “Inagawa-kai General Headquarters.

The “Inagawa Kaikan” referred to in the letter refers to an Inagawa-kai facility in Yokohama City, and the “regular direct visit meetings and board of directors meetings” refer to the monthly meetings of the top executives. An old senior official of a designated organized crime syndicate with a long history of activities explains the meetings of the top executives of a gangster organization as described in this document.

The meeting of the direct supervisors (the heads of the immediate gangs) is sometimes important in that the personnel of the new organization are announced and the direction of the organization is presented, but sometimes the meeting is short, lasting only about 10 minutes. Even so, it is still a very important forum for notifying each direct supervisor.”

The designated gang leader emphasizes that the above notification from the Inagawa-kai is “a countermeasure against information leaks. He also pointed out the following.

The meeting is not always important. Nevertheless, if the contents of the meeting were recorded and leaked to the outside world, it would raise questions about the organization’s discipline. In recent years, there have been YouTube users who want this kind of audio, so they must be nervous.”

It seems that the sophisticated tool that is the smartphone has raised new issues in the gangster community.