Do you ever get the feeling that you're trapped in Harold Ramis' 1993 movie "Groundhog Day," except that you're an investigative journalist, not a weatherman, and the nemesis that keeps popping up isn't a rodent but a crime syndicate boss? Maybe it's just me.

On Dec. 9, the U.S. Treasury Department put Tadamasa Goto, former head of the Goto-gumi — an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the country's largest yakuza syndicate — on its list of individuals and organizations that are subject to financial sanctions.

The last individual to receive the same treatment was Kodo-kai chief Teruaki Takeuchi, who was targeted in April. Little more than four months later, a Kobe-based affiliate split from the Yamaguchi-gumi, triggering fears of a turf war between the rival factions.