US blacklists Japanese Yakuza group Kodo-kai

April 22, 2015 02:26

The US Treasury today slapped sanctions on the Kodo-kai, calling it the most violent arm of Japan's powerful Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza crime syndicate.

The sanctions, under laws targeting transnational criminal organizations, were also applied to Teruaki Takeuchi, the chairman of the Nagoya-based, financially powerful Kodo-kai, whose 4,000 members are allegedly involved in extortion and bribery.

The Treasury said Takeuchi was promoted to Kodo-kai head in 2013 by Yamaguchi-gumi deputy godfather Kiyoshi Takayama, the former Kodo-kai chairman who is already on the Treasury sanctions blacklist.

"Takeuchi is also linked to the Inagawa-kai syndicate, the third largest Yakuza syndicate in Japan, through a symbolic brotherhood he shares with Kazuo Uchibori, the second-in-command of the Inagawa-kai," it said.

The sanctions forbid Americans from transactions with those blacklisted, and freeze any assets they have in the United States.

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