Inside the Luffy Robbery Gang’s Collapse — The Boss Betrayed by His Own and Left to Rot in Prison
The leader of the organization, unwilling to be captured by the police, attempted to take his own life instead
Previously.
In the summer of 2018, Tomonobu Kojima (defendant, 47) joined a special fraud group as a low-level “kakeko” and, after being recognized for his work by the boss Yuki Watanabe (defendant, 41), began to stand out.
At the same time, the group transformed into a massive criminal organization that defrauded victims of amounts in the hundreds of millions of yen per month. However, in 2021 members were successively detained by authorities, and Kojima and others were sent to the Bicutan detention facility, which became the scene of the “Luffy wide-area robbery” case.
At Bicutan, Kojima and the others reunited with Seiya Fujita (defendant, 41) and Kiyoto Imamura (defendant, 41). They were drawn into a wide-area robbery plan devised by Imamura, but after a string of failures and increasing friction within the group, the Komae incident occurred, which resulted in deaths.
However, everything changed when, at the end of January 2023, news broke that Luffy is in Bicutan.
“The boss and Fujita berated Imamura, saying, ‘It’s because he calls himself “Luffy.”’ After the reports, Imamura’s private VIP room, the Kiyoto Room, was taken away, women were barred from entering the facility, and we were heavily criticized by the other detainees.
At the same time, Fujita tried to pin all the blame on Imamura: he secretly filmed conversations between the boss and Imamura and sent the videos to the boss’s mistress so they could be leaked to the Japanese media. In February, the boss tried to raise ¥7,000,000 to escape, but that money was swindled from him by his mistress. She left, telling him, ‘I can’t be with you anymore. Good luck!’
Imamura was the leader of the robberies. But he was often clumsy—he’d withdraw money at an ATM near Bicutan and thereby give investigators leads. I asked Imamura why things escalated to the point of killing someone.
Imamura said, ‘Watanabe and Fujita told me, “Kiyoto is the boss, so you have to do something about him,”’ and he was at his wits’ end. That was the first time I felt sympathy for him. The bosses were planning to kill Imamura and take everything—he was pitiable. In the end, Imamura too was on the exploited side.
In the final four days at Bicutan, the four of us were thrown into a cell smaller than two tatami mats. The boss and Fujita tried bribery to avoid forcible repatriation but ultimately gave up. The despairing boss attempted suicide on the spot; I desperately stopped him.
Imamura pretended to be strong, saying to the two, ‘I won’t tell anything.’ He may have been in a near-brainwashed state, and to this day he’s kept that promise. We were transferred back to Japan in February 2023. That day happened to be the first official visit to Japan by Philippine President Marcos. With a summit with the prime minister imminent, our transfer was probably a nice diplomatic token for the Philippine government.”
The Luffy wide-area robbery case is notable for the relationship between the organizers and the perpetrators. The methods were highly reproducible; the label “Tokuryu” (anonymous, fluid criminal groups) took hold, and similar robberies proliferated in the Kanto area from last August. In Watanabe’s group, many of the perpetrators gathered by the organizers received life imprisonment. So, what did organizers consider the perpetrators to be?
“Merely disposable pieces on a board. If one was arrested, they’d just replace him. Nothing more. In truth, the bosses never intended to pay the perpetrators for the robbery operations.
To anyone thinking of applying for shady part-time jobs, remember: until you’re caught you’re a comrade—but once arrested you’re treated like trash. Don’t be so foolish as to throw away your life for a reward of only about ¥100,000 that might never be paid. Please reconsider applying.”
The number of special-fraud incidents has been rising year by year. This fiscal year’s total loss to special frauds amounted to ¥27.6 billion as of the end of March, of which ¥17.1 billion was frauds impersonating police officers. The crimes of Watanabe’s group, which accelerated that trend, are grave. Still, Kojima claimed, “There are structural reasons in Japan why special frauds don’t disappear.”
“Including myself, back then we had a weak sense that we were engaged in fraud or criminal acts. The work of a kakeko or recruiter easily becomes an assembly-line task. Building the organization like a ‘company’ also served to numb participants’ sense of criminality.
I also felt the influence of Japan’s debt culture. Many people have little psychological resistance to card loans, mortgages, or installment payments. The debts that lead people to join shady jobs are mostly from game purchases, host clubs, cabaret clubs, or gambling.
In short, as long as there are people who give in to temptation, fraud won’t disappear. If you want to reduce fraud, cut ATM withdrawal limits. That would be the most effective measure.”
Since the day he was forcibly repatriated, Kojima has cooperated with prosecutors and police. From February 2023 he went to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office every day for about 90 days, and regarding the robberies he underwent interrogation for about 40 days from around September to December 2023.
His cooperation with investigations and contribution to uncovering the organization’s reality appear to have been taken into account at trial. He was not treated as a principal offender but as an accomplice to robbery and injury; convicted for three robberies and ten special-fraud cases, he received a 20-year prison sentence (he has appealed the 20-year sentence), which seems to reflect his ongoing cooperation with investigations.
Although parts of his involvement in robberies have been recognized in court, Kojima repeatedly told the author, “I wasn’t involved in robbery or murder. I’m, at core, a swindler,” perhaps out of a sense of repentance.
“Even if I wanted to repay victims, all the money we made in the Philippines was taken away. What I can do is tell everything and clarify the truth about the incidents. I will continue to testify in future trials and do whatever I can to resolve even one case.
I won’t forgive the executives’ lies. To prevent more victims, I want to expose the methods and help dismantle what the public calls the Luffy group. I want to make clear that I didn’t commit robberies or killings and that I was not part of Luffy’s inner circle.”
He added:
“There are still remnants of the group. I want them to face the reality that paying money won’t save them. I sincerely hope the organization we built is destroyed.”
Almost three years have passed since the wide-area robbery incidents, yet the unraveling of the truth remains only half complete.
(End; honorifics omitted)
Reporting and text by Shimei Kurita (nonfiction writer)
Born in 1987. Covers a wide range of topics including sports, economics, crime, and international affairs. Author of “Surviving the COVID-19 Era: The Taxi Industry’s Struggle.” His latest book, “Reportage: Shuwa Hatagaya Residence,” is now on sale to strong reviews. He has also worked on numerous composition projects, including “Aim for Koshien! The Relentless Challenge of Academic High School Baseball Teams.”
From “FRIDAY”, October 3–10, 2025 issue.
Interview and text by： Shimei Kurita (Nonfiction writer)
