SMOOTH OPERATOR

Japan’s Yazuka Boss Kenichi Shinoda Released from Prison

Police preparing for mafia war.

This is not the news Japan needs right now. Japanese police are gearing up for upcoming clashes as the head of the country’s most powerful crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, has been released from prison after six years. Kenichi Shinoda, 69, left Fuchu prison Saturday in a brown leather fedora and dark sunglasses and was taken to the western port city of Kobe, the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi. As head of the crime syndicate, Shindoa expanded their reach overseas from beyond its tradition base in western Japan, and the number of Yamaguchi-gumi has grown to 35,000, which accounts for about 44 percent of Japanese mafia. Shinoda’s second-in-command, Kiyoshi Takayam, was arrested in November as part of the police crackdown against the group.