KOBE — The don of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the top mob syndicate, was released from a Tokyo prison Saturday morning, five years and four months after being sent up for accessory to gun possession involving an underling.
Sporting a shiny brown fedora and brown scarf, Kenichi Shinoda, 69, alias Shinobu Tsukasa, arrived at the gang's Kobe headquarters early Saturday afternoon. Pausing briefly in front of the entrance, a frail-looking Shinoda was greeted by about a half dozen senior Yamaguchi-gumi affiliated mob bosses as dozens of media and police looked on. Shinoda spoke a few words to his cohorts before disappearing inside.
Shinoda, the sixth head of the Yamaguchi-gumi, returns at a time when police nationwide have been beefing up antigang laws and ordinances. With 34,900 members in 85 affiliated gangs, the Yamaguchi-gumi accounts for about 45 percent of the 78,600 mobsters in 22 police-designated violent gangs.