Unexpected Reason” Why Secondary Groups of Sumiyoshi-kai Affiliate Expand into “Hakata and Nakasu
Gangster industry tremor! While the Yamaguchigumi split disturbance was intensifying again, there was an anomaly in the power structure.
There are reports that Tokyo’s Sumiyoshi-kai gang has been making full-scale inroads into the area since the end of last year, and the Fukuoka Prefectural Police are becoming increasingly alarmed that this may change the power structure of the gangs in Nakasu,” said a reporter from the prefectural police.
Nakasu is known as Kyushu’s largest entertainment district. The Nakasu area of Fukuoka City, known as Kyushu’s largest entertainment district, is now experiencing a strange phenomenon.
Speaking of gangs in Kyushu, the Kudo-kai in Kitakyushu and the Dojinkai in Kurume have organized a friendship group called the “Four Societies. Many of the four societies, including the Kudo-kai, have bases in Fukuoka City. In addition to the four societies, there are many other groups in Nakasu that are close to the Yamaguchigumi, such as the Fukuhaku-kai, but it seems that the Sumiyoshi-kai has recently entered the picture.
What on earth is going on? An official of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police Department reveals.
A company that runs a nationally known jewelry store purchased a building in Nakasu a few years ago. Last year, the company leased a corner of the building to a company, and a cabaret club opened there. The company that runs that cabaret club is said to be in bed with a secondary group of the Sumiyoshikai.
This year, the company opened its second large-scale cabaret club in Nakasu. The company’s flamboyant business practices, such as offering favorable treatment to women from other establishments, have become a topic of conversation among those involved.
The company’s business is now in a situation where it would normally have clashed with the local gangsters, but there is a reason for this. Sumiyoshi-kai has a friendly relationship with the Dounin-kai as five-fifths brothers, and its relationship with the Kudo-kai is not bad. By inviting Sumiyoshi-kai to Nakasu, we believe that such Kyushu-based gangs aim to check the movements of the Yamaguchigumi VI, which is looking for opportunities to expand its power in Nakasu.
It was believed that the Kudo-kai in Kitakyushu had been weakened by the Fukuoka Prefectural Police’s “Kudo-kai destruction operation,” as evidenced by the death sentence handed down to the Kudo-kai’s top president, Satoru Nomura. However, a prefectural police reporter said, “The Kitakyushu Kudo Kai has been weakened.
However, the prefectural police reporter in charge of the Kitakyushu Kudo-kai said, “While the Kudo-kai in Kitakyushu has weakened, gang activity in Fukuoka has been increasing. In March of this year, a former supervisor of the Kitakyushu District Organized Crime Investigation Division and other local organized crime departments was appointed deputy chief of the Boryokudan (organized crime investigation division) at prefectural police headquarters. In fact, at the end of May, a leading executive of the Kudo-kai, which has a presence in Fukuoka, was arrested.
Recently, the Yamaguchigumi VI has been on the offensive, and the Yamaguchigumi split war has “re-intensified. Will the day come when Nakasu, where the gangs are becoming more active, will turn into a “town of shura”?
FRIDAY” July 15, 2022 issue
PHOTO: Shinji Hamasaki, Kyodo News