Inside the Hong Kong Mafia, Sumiyoshi-kai and Chinese Dragon Alliance

“Anonymous and fluid criminal groups (commonly known as Tokuryu) causing various incidents across Japan. Centered around social media, sometimes people who don’t even know each other’s faces connect and repeatedly commit crimes — this current situation is called the liquefied crime era by freelance writer Tomohiko Suzuki, who mainly covers organized crime groups. This short special series delves into their true nature.”

The announcement of the “Alliance of Half-Gangsters, Yakuza, and Hong Kong Mafia”

On June 9, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Anti-Organized Crime Division announced the arrest of five individuals linked to organized crime. Kazuyuki Tajima (53) and Hidemitsu Matsuki (62) are current executives of the Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate; brothers Utaro Shirai (53) and Kajiro Shirai (51) are executives of the quasi-organized crime group “Chinese Dragon”; and Huaxiong Chen (46) is also associated with Chinese Dragon.

The charge involves fraud committed in mid-March 2023, where the suspects hid their gang affiliations while staying at a hotel in Yamanashi Prefecture and renting out the hotel’s restaurant for exclusive use. The case came to light after analyzing the smartphone of another arrested Chinese Dragon affiliate, which contained photos and videos.

At the restaurant venue, about 30 people gathered, including members of Sumiyoshi-kai and the Hong Kong mafia group “14K,” to hold a “sakazuki-goto” (a sake cup ceremony) to form an alliance. The structure is that Japanese organized crime groups and Hong Kong mafia collaborated, with the so-called “Chinese Dragon,” known as the remaining orphans mafia, acting as the intermediaries.

While this cross-border alliance between Japanese gangs and Hong Kong mafia seems grand and flashy, there are several strange points about the news.

First, why would gang members stay at a hotel and use its facilities?

Since the enactment of anti-organized crime ordinances, hotel agreements include clauses rejecting gang members’ stays under police guidance. It is widely known in gang circles that using a hotel without hiding gang affiliations, or without using a false name, can itself be considered fraud. It is common knowledge that executives avoid using hotels. Renting a restaurant by hiding gang affiliations is also extremely risky and unlikely.

In the past, sakazuki-goto ceremonies rented hotels or traditional restaurants, but after the anti-organized crime ordinances, these ceremonies are now held at their own buildings, halls, or offices, even if the venue is cramped. It is unheard of for these ceremonies to be secretly held by renting private venues. The ceremony requires altars, offerings, trays, sake cups, sea bream, Japanese sake, name tags called “kakiage,” and other ritual tools. The matchmaker loudly raises their voice, so it is almost impossible to keep the ceremony secret from employees.

“A gang using a venue today would be heavily scrutinized for compliance if the public found out. With words like boss and underling flying around and intimidating men secretly gathering for a ceremony, employees would surely notice something suspicious. Even if they don’t report directly, they’d inform their supervisors,” said a police official.

Some reports quoted a gang insider saying, “It is true that there have been some groups recently hiding their identities and secretly holding sakazuki ceremonies by renting restaurants,” but it is hard to believe this without skepticism.

 

 

This type of fraud charge is extremely advantageous for the police. Although it is a minor offense, if the fact of use can be proven, it is easy to secure a conviction with little effort. In addition, many upper-level members of organized crime groups rely on protection money collected from lower-ranking members as their income and do not directly engage in crimes themselves, but arresting reckless executives boosts the police’s standing internally. To avoid falling into traps, these groups even call in lawyers and hold study sessions. Given such circumstances, it would be unnatural for someone to recklessly walk into a trap.

During the investigation, a strange fact surfaced. Apparently, among the arrested suspects, there is a member of the de facto owner group of the hotel where the event took place. Although the land and building of the hotel and the corporate registration of the owner were checked, the suspect’s name was not found. However, a businessperson who knows this suspect testified that he co-owns the management rights together with several associates.

“We bought the property together with people from Fujian Province, which is where my roots are. We somehow managed to get by even during the COVID period.”

If it is indeed his own hotel, it would be easy to silence employees even if they knew about it. At worst, even if information leaked to the police, he probably never expected to be arrested.