“He’s Like the Devil”—Even a Top Luffy Group Lieutenant Was Shocked by the Ultimate Betrayal

Death threats from “Luffy”

The “Luffy Group,” which shook Japan through special fraud schemes and a series of wide-area robberies carried out using so-called dark part-time jobs (criminal recruitment schemes), left an enormous scar on Japanese criminal history. The group later inspired countless copycats and became the origin of what are now known as anonymous, fluid criminal groups (Tokuryu).

Based on exclusive interviews with the top executives of this notorious criminal organization, the nonfiction book “Luffy Behind Bars: The People Who Created the Dark Part-Time Jobs” (Shimei Kurita, Kodansha) was released on June 24. How did a special fraud organization operating out of the Philippines and elsewhere transform into a violent robbery syndicate spanning wide regions? The following is an edited excerpt from the book.

[Click here to pre-order “Luffy Behind Bars: The People Who Created the Dark Part-Time Jobs!”]

There was a time gap between when the key members of the so-called “Luffy Group” were imprisoned in the Bicutan Detention Center in the Philippines—the base from which the wide-area robbery crimes were orchestrated.

Imamura Masato, who called himself “Luffy,” was incarcerated at the end of 2019. Fujita Seiya arrived in April 2021. Watanabe Yuki and Kojima Tomonobu were imprisoned in November 2021.

Because of extensive reporting on the “Luffy Wide-Area Robbery Cases,” many people have the impression that it was a criminal organization led by Imamura. However, investigation into life inside the detention center reveals that the events were shaped by a complex web of shifting human relationships.

The Bicutan Detention Center is located in Taguig City, about a 40-minute drive from central Manila. It is a facility intended to hold foreign detainees, housing everyone from violent criminals to individuals who simply overstayed their visas. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Immigration.

Not everyone detained in Bicutan is a hardened criminal. However, once inside, everyone is treated the same. Because conflicts between national groups are constant, detainees naturally band together with people from their own country.

Among the Japanese detainees, a man known as “Sato” acted as the leader. Sato also held the rights to a private air-conditioned room (a VIP room). Imamura later used this room as well, and it became known as the “Kiyo Room.”

When Fujita was transferred to Bicutan, he saw familiar faces there: eighteen phone scammers (“kakeko”) from the Watanabe Group—a special fraud organization headed by Watanabe—who had been arrested at the West Makati Hotel in the Philippines in November 2019.

Imamura was there as well, along with a man known as “Itai,” one of the executives of JP Dragon, a Japanese criminal organization based in the Philippines that was hostile toward Watanabe’s fraud group.

According to Kojima’s testimony, after being imprisoned in Bicutan at the end of 2019, Imamura began helping with JP Dragon’s operations. Around the same time, Watanabe and his associates also came to believe that “Imamura had joined JP Dragon.”

Evidence later presented by prosecutors made it clear that Watanabe’s group and the group to which Imamura belonged were originally separate organizations. Borrowing the terminology used during the trial, they were essentially different companies.

Although the two groups would later merge into what became known as the “Luffy Group,” at this point they were enemies.

For JP Dragon, whose criminal operations had previously been disrupted by Watanabe’s group, executive member Fujita was an ideal target.

Describing the situation at the time, Fujita testified in court:

“On the very day I arrived at Bicutan, Mr. Sato and Mr. Imamura nearly killed me. ‘Itai,’ who had originally belonged to the same fraud organization as me but later defected to JP Dragon, was my sworn enemy. I heard that they were planning to take my money and kill me.”

“He’s like a devil”

In 2022, conditions inside Bicutan began to change. The Japanese detainees, including the 18 former phone scammers from Watanabe’s group, were deported to Japan. At the same time, cracks began to appear between Sato—the leader of the Japanese detainee group—and Imamura due to financial disputes. As their relationship deteriorated, Imamura grew closer to Watanabe.

By no later than early 2022, Imamura was already plotting robberies in Japan. He recruited participants through social media dark part-time jobs and communicated with perpetrators through a Telegram account under the name “Luffy.” At this stage, however, Watanabe’s group was still unaware of Imamura’s robbery operations.

In March 2022, an incident occurred that could be considered a precursor to the nationwide robbery spree. Three men attempted to break into a pawn shop in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, by smashing the glass entrance doors in order to steal valuables. At the time, Imamura sent the following message from an account using the name “Luffy”:

“Nice to meet you! I’m contacting you about a job!”

When one of the perpetrators asked, “What position does Mr. Luffy hold?” Imamura replied:

“I’m the boss.”

Then, in May 2022, the first of the wide-area robbery cases took place. On May 2, two perpetrators—a man and a woman—attacked a jewelry store in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City. They smashed display cases with hammers and stole 41 luxury watches, including Rolexes, before fleeing. The total value of the stolen goods was approximately ¥69 million.

What made this case particularly noteworthy was what happened afterward. An article published by Yomiuri Shimbun Online on July 19, 2023, titled “Ten Dark-Baito Participants in Kyoto Robbery Ordered by ‘Luffy’ Received No Payment”, reported:

In the series of robberies directed by “Luffy” and others, investigators learned that 10 of the 12 perpetrators involved in the Kyoto robbery in May 2022 received no compensation. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police believe that Imamura Mahito, who was later rearrested on robbery charges, deliberately arranged things so that lower-level members would not receive payment.

According to investigators, after the robbery, one of the perpetrators—a 21-year-old unemployed man who later received a 10-year prison sentence and appealed—was instructed to hand over the stolen watches to another collector. While traveling by car with a courier to the Suita Service Area on the Meishin Expressway in Osaka Prefecture, he was attacked by an unknown person in a restroom, and the backpack containing the watches was stolen.

In other words, another operative working under Imamura’s command had robbed the very perpetrators who had carried out the robbery Imamura himself had planned and directed. The attacker used the alias “Sanji.”

Afterward, Imamura explained to the original perpetrators via Telegram:

“Since the watches were stolen, I can’t pay you your reward.”

The purpose of this scheme was obvious. Imamura was trying to increase his own share of the proceeds.

When Watanabe later learned the full story, he reportedly commented:

“That’s unbelievable. Kiyoto is like a devil.”

The next chapter, “Obtaining Target Information from a Mysterious Informant: The Full Story Behind the Wide-Area Robberies That Shook Japan,” delves deeper into the inner workings of the robbery spree that shocked the nation.