41-Year-Old Man Accused of Attempted Extortion Over Protection Money Amid Urgent Gang-Related Issues

In the backseat of a police convoy, a man looks around with a sulky look on his face. He is a gang leader who allegedly tried to extort protection money from an employee of a specialty products dealer.

By August 15, the Shibuya Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department had arrested two men, including Jun Kawai, 41, a senior member of the Yamaguchigumi VI, a designated crime syndicate, on suspicion of attempted extortion. They allegedly tried to extort cash from an employee of a store in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. The store sells cookies and other products made from cannabidiol (CBD), an ingredient extracted from the stems and seeds of the cannabis plant. Kawai and the other suspects demanded money from the store, showing tattoos on their arms and other parts of their bodies, saying.

If you don’t pay us the land area fee, we won’t be able to protect you no matter what.”

‘You’re doing something that’s almost like evading the law.

Tapioca and homestays also become a sinogi

A reporter from a national newspaper’s society section said, “The alleged incident in which he was arrested took place in August.

The alleged incident occurred on August 4. The store did not pay the money even though they were blackmailed, saying, ‘We don’t want you to do anything in our territory without our permission,'” said a reporter from a national newspaper. Although CBD-containing products are not illegal, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) is demanding confirmation that they are not. The police have yet to confirm the identity of Kawai and the other suspects.

Why were stores selling CBD products targeted? It seems that there is an urgent situation of the gang in the background.

The police are cracking down harder and harder, and the gangs can no longer do business by demanding protection money from restaurants as they have done in the past. They are probably looking for a new source of income. The sources of income are diversifying. A few years ago, the popular tapioca drink was a source of income. The storefronts were fashionable and customers bought them without knowing that they were run by gangsters. The clerks working there probably had no idea that they were working part-time for a gang front company.

Recently, there have been an increasing number of cases of people eating into private accommodations in anticipation of inbound tourism from overseas. There will be many foreign tourists who want to hold Japanese women. Although there is a strict crackdown on brothels, it would be a tasty business if private accommodations and prostitution were combined. There are also cases where elderly people living in houses damaged by earthquakes and typhoons are charged high repair costs.

The incident described at the beginning of this article may be just one example of trouble caused by gangsters looking for a new source of income.