Organized crime - boryokudan

Japanese: 暴力団 - ぼうりょくだん

An anti-social group that commits crimes through violence and intimidation, harming citizens. Types include gamblers, violent gangsters, and thug gangs, and depending on the era, there have been construction gangs, port gangs, disguised right-wingers, and corporate thugs. Gangs and other violent organizations also exist in major European and American cities, but in Japan they have a distinctive character that makes them almost synonymous with the yakuza.

The crimes committed by organized crime gangs cover a wide range of areas, from murder and injury to blackmail, intimidation, and assault. They also engage in fierce conflicts over territory, interests, and succession. In particular, in recent years, many gang members have been using smuggled guns as weapons, and bloody riots on the streets often cause great fear among honest citizens.

[Hiroaki Iwai]

Organizational Trends

The number and personnel of Japan's yakuza gangs was about 3,600 gangs and about 78,000 people in the early 1950s, about 3,500 gangs and about 82,000 people in the mid-1960s, about 2,450 gangs and about 100,000 people in the mid-1970s, and about 2,200 gangs and about 94,000 people in December 1985. Since then, the number of gangs has decreased due to absorption and mergers, and as of April 2016, there are 22 gangs designated under the Anti-Yakuza Law in 12 prefectures, including Tokyo, Osaka, and Hyogo. They are active all over the country, including in major cities.

The organization varies somewhat depending on the type and size of the group, but it usually has a vertical line structure with bosses, executives, members, and junior members, and the contents are usually linked by traditional boss-subordinate or brotherly ties. However, in recent years, it has become common for gangs to have a modern organizational exterior while still having traditional ties.

As times change, various changes have been observed in the organization and activities of organized crime gangs that are different from the past. One of the most notable trends is the rapid expansion of the influence of regional organized crime gangs that have organizations across two or more prefectures. For example, around 1980, the membership of the three major organized crime gangs, the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Inagawa-kai, and the Sumiyoshi-kai, was less than a quarter of the total number of organized crime gang members, but by the end of 1990, this had rapidly increased to nearly half of the total, and with the addition of the Aizu Kotetsu-kai, the four major organizations accounted for more than half of the total number of organized crime gang members nationwide. In the five years from 1986, the Yamaguchi-gumi's membership increased by about 50%, while the Inagawa-kai and the Sumiyoshi-kai increased by about 30%. In particular, the largest of these, the Yamaguchi-gumi, rapidly expanded its influence from 3% of the total in 1963 to 30% of the total by 1990, or about one in three organized crime gang members nationwide. By 1998, the three groups Yamaguchi-gumi, Inagawa-kai, and Sumiyoshi-kai accounted for approximately 67% of the total, with the total membership of these three groups reaching approximately 30,000.

These regional gangs have shown a tendency to grow larger and larger by absorbing other small and medium-sized gangs through their power and financial strength. Amid these changes, the use of firearms in conflicts between gangs has also increased, with handguns now used in more than 80% of all firearms. Furthermore, their connections with international crime organizations cannot be overlooked. There is also a strong tendency for gangs to internationalize, with smuggling of handguns, stimulants, and narcotics through connections with foreign organizations, accepting groups of stowaways from the continent through collaboration with international crime organizations such as snakeheads, and assisting the illegal entry of foreign women who wish to work in Japan.

[Hiroaki Iwai]

Sources of funding for organized crime

The sources of funding for gangsters include legitimate businesses such as construction, finance, and street stalls that they directly or indirectly run, as well as the buying and selling of narcotics and stimulants, protection money and bodyguard fees from entertainment businesses in downtown areas, corporate extortion, gambling, and racketeering activities such as bicycle and boat racing, as well as financial violence in debt collection and debt restructuring for salarymen, the sale of pornographic films, prostitution, and a wide range of other illegal activities. There have also been changes over the years, with tekiya (traffickers) dominating the black market era immediately after World War II, semi-gamblers in ports and construction during the economic recovery period, entertainment companies accompanying the prosperity of the entertainment industry, and real estate-related land speculator gangs gaining strength during the era of rising land prices in big cities. Generally speaking, from around 1990, gangsters began to take on a more intellectual approach to crimes targeting businesses, such as finance, bad debt-related crimes, and corporate racketeers.

As mentioned above, regional gangs have expanded their influence rapidly, and their sources of funding are not limited to traditional stimulant drug trafficking, but have also come to involve a wide range of economic activities, such as real estate and stock trading. In the 1991 Tokyo Sagawa Kyubin scandal, huge flows of money were revealed, including the fundraising of 38.4 billion yen using a golf course owned by the former chairman of the Inagawa-kai, Ishii Susumu (1924-1991), and the former chairman's purchase of 27.39 million shares of Tokyu Corporation. Not only the Inagawa-kai, but other organizations have also shown a tendency to expand their influence behind the scenes in the real estate, finance, and construction industries through corporate yakuza of so-called legitimate companies. In particular, the speculative bubble economy supported the full-scale expansion of gangsters' business activities. Even after the bubble burst, they continued to be involved in debt collection, and violent murders of private company executives occurred one after another.

[Hiroaki Iwai]

Measures against organized crime

As a countermeasure, arrests of gang members are conducted every year, and although there are occasional effects, the reality is that gangs are difficult to eradicate as a whole. In recent years, gangs have widely intervened in citizens' lives and corporate economic activities, and their methods have become more sophisticated, making it difficult to take countermeasures against them as they engage in so-called gray zone activities such as threats and harassment that do not constitute crimes. The organization and activities of these gangs have become a major social problem, and new countermeasures were needed, so the Law Concerning the Prevention of Unjust Acts by Members of Organized Crime Groups (the Anti-Organized Crime Law or the Bōtaihō) was enacted in March 1992.

The most distinctive feature of this law is the system for designating gangs. When gang members meet three designation requirements - that is, they use the power of their affiliated organizations to obtain funds for their lives and businesses, that a certain percentage of members have criminal records, and that the organization is structured hierarchically under a representative - they are designated as gangs through a set procedure. Gangs that receive this designation are subject to over a dozen prohibited acts, including demanding hush money, donations and contributions, demanding subcontracting orders and delivery of goods, demanding greeting fees, demanding bodyguard fees, collecting debts at unreasonable interest rates, unreasonable requests for loans, intervening in accident settlements, demanding that minors join, and using offices during conflicts and feuds - and penalties for violations. The implementation of the Anti-Boryokudan Law has been somewhat successful in controlling illegal activities by gangs.

In 1999, three laws to combat organized crime were enacted and put into effect with the aim of cracking down on organized crime. The Organized Crime Punishment and Crime Proceeds Control Act provides for the aggravation of penalties for certain organized crimes, the use of profits gained from certain criminal acts to control the management rights of corporations, etc., and the concealment of criminal proceeds (so-called money laundering). The Communications Interception Act allows for the interception of communications under certain conditions in the investigation of certain organized and clandestine crimes. In addition, a partial amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulated the protection of witnesses in criminal cases. It was hoped that these measures would bring greater control over organized crime by organized crime groups.

[Hiroaki Iwai]

Oligopoly, concentration, and expansion of quasi-members

Since the start of the Heisei era, the number of gang members has steadily decreased from a peak of 91,000 in 1991 to 79,300 in 1995 after the Anti-Organized Crime Act came into force the following year. It then gradually increased to 87,000 in 2004, but has since declined to 78,600 in 2010 and 46,900 in 2015.

The organizations have become more oligopolistic and concentrated in one place, and by the end of 2015, the four major groups, Yamaguchi-gumi, Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, Inagawa-kai, and Sumiyoshi-kai, accounted for 70.8% of all yakuza members, with Yamaguchi-gumi in particular accounting for 30.1%. In terms of the composition of members, there has been a noticeable increase in associate members (unofficial members of yakuza groups) since around 1999, and the reasons for this include the concealment of organizations in the face of repeated legal restrictions, the diversification of fund-raising methods, and the expansion and opacity of their criminal repertoire.

The number of gang members has been gradually decreasing overall, but there are exceptions, such as Fukuoka Prefecture, where the number is increasing.

Various measures have been taken against organized crime, but there is also a tendency for gangsters to slip through the cracks and become more malicious, so there is no room for optimism.

[Hiroaki Iwai]

"The Structure of Pathological Groups" by Iwai Hiroyuki (1963, Seishin Shobo)" ▽ "Sociology of Crime" by Iwai Hiroyuki (1964, Kobundo)" ▽ "Investigation of Violent Crime, revised edition, by Yokoyama Zenjiro and Kawabata Hisahiro (1983, Tachibana Shobo)" ▽ "Japan's Organized Crime Groups" by Nakamura Masahiko (1985, Seikai Oraisha)" ▽ "Police White Paper: Current State and Issues in Measures Against Organized Crime, edited by the National Police Agency (1989, Printing Bureau of the Ministry of Finance)" ▽ "A Manual for Measures Against Organized Crime: How to Deal with the Changing Face of Organized Crime" by Iishiba Masatsugu (1990, Yuhikaku)" ▽ "Research on Organized Crime" by Kato Hisao (1992, Seibundo)" ▽ "Organized Crime" by Tojo Shinichiro (1995, Tokyo Horei Publishing)" ▽ "Annotated Commentary on the Japan Federation of Bar Associations' Civil Intervention Violence Countermeasures Committee" "Anti-Yakuza Law: Article-by-Article Commentary and Comparative Law Study" (1997, Civil Law Research Group)" ▽ "Nagoya Bar Association Special Committee on Countermeasures against Civil Intervention and Violence (ed.), "Yakuza Front Companies: Their Reality and Countermeasures" (2001, Civil Law Research Group)" ▽ "Japan Federation of Bar Associations Committee on Countermeasures against Civil Intervention and Violence (ed.), "Q&A on 110 for Organized Crime: From Basic Knowledge to Trouble Cases and How to Deal with Them," revised and expanded edition (2004, Civil Law Research Group)" ▽ "Organized Crime," edited by Misawa Akihiko and written by the Public Safety Reporting Team of the Yomiuri Shimbun's Social Affairs Department (2004, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Ino Kenji and Miyazaki Manabu (eds.), "The 'Eradication of Organized Crime' Theory: The Future of a Yakuza-Exclusion Society" (2010, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "National Police Agency ed., "Police White Paper," annual editions (Gyosei)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

暴力や脅迫などによって犯罪行動をし、市民に害を与える反社会的な集団。その種類には、博徒(ばくと)、暴力的屋(てきや)、愚連隊(ぐれんたい)をはじめ、時代によって、土建暴力団、港湾暴力団、偽装右翼、会社ゴロなどがあった。欧米の大都市にもギャングなどの暴力組織があるが、日本の場合は、やくざとほぼ同一語といってよい特色を備えている。

　暴力団の犯罪行為は、殺人、傷害をはじめ、恐喝、脅迫、暴行などのあらゆる面にわたっている。また、縄張り、利権、跡目などをめぐる対立抗争も激しい。とくに近来では、密輸などにより入手した拳銃(けんじゅう)をその武器とするものが多く、街頭などにおける流血騒動は、しばしば善良な市民に大きな恐怖を与えている。

［岩井弘融］

組織の動向

日本の暴力団の団体数や人員は、昭和30年代初めで約3600団体、約7万8000人、昭和40年代なかばで約3500団体、約8万2000人、昭和50年代なかばで約2450団体、約10万人、1985年（昭和60）12月には約2200団体、約9万4000人であった。その後、団体数そのものは吸収・合併などにより減少し、2016年（平成28）4月時点における暴力団対策法に基づく指定暴力団は、東京都、大阪府、兵庫県などの12都道府県で22団体である。彼らは、大都市をはじめ全国至る所で活動をしている。

　その組織は、集団の種類や大きさによって多少は異なるが、組長、幹部、平成員、準成員などの縦のライン組織をもち、しかもその中身は伝統的な親分・子分、兄弟分のつながりで結ばれているのが通常である。しかし近来は、伝統的なつながりをもちつつも、近代的な組織の外装をとることも多くなった。

　時代の推移とともに暴力団の組織や活動にも、旧来と異なったいろいろな変化がみられるようになってきている。なかでも顕著なのは、二つ以上の都道府県にまたがって組織を有する広域暴力団の急速な勢力拡大の傾向である。たとえば、1980年（昭和55）ごろ、山口組、稲川会、住吉会の三大暴力団の構成員数は、暴力団全体の4分の1足らずであったが、1990年（平成2）末にはおよそ全体の半数近くまで急増し、これに会津小鉄会(こてつかい)を加えた四大組織で、全国の暴力団員の半数以上を占めるまでに至った。1986年からの5年間で、山口組は約5割増、稲川会および住吉会は約3割増であった。とりわけ、そのなかでも最大の山口組は、1963年には全体の3％であったものが、1990年には全体の30％、つまり全国の暴力団員のおよそ3人に1人を占めるまで急速に勢力を拡大した。1998年には、山口組、稲川会、住吉会の3団体が約67％を占めるようになり、これら3団体の構成員数は約3万人となった。

　これらの広域暴力団は、その威力と資金力とによってほかの中小暴力団を吸収し傘下に収め、ますます肥大化する傾向を示してきた。こうした変遷のなかで、相互の対立抗争にあたっての銃器使用の割合も増加し、銃器のうち拳銃を用いるものが8割以上の高率に達している。また、国際犯罪組織との関連も見逃せない。外国組織とのつながりによる拳銃、覚醒剤、麻薬等の密輸、蛇頭(じゃとう)（スネークヘッド）などの国際犯罪組織との提携による大陸からの集団密航者の受入れ、日本での就労を望む外国人女性の不法入国の援助など、国際化する傾向も濃厚である。

［岩井弘融］

暴力団の資金源

暴力団の資金源は、直接間接に経営する土建、金融、露店などの合法企業のほか、麻薬・覚醒剤(かくせいざい)の売買、繁華街の風俗営業者からの「みかじめ」料・用心棒料、企業恐喝、賭博(とばく)、競輪・競艇などののみ行為、あるいはサラリーマン金融の取り立てや債権整理の金融暴力、ポルノ・フィルム販売や売春などの広範な非合法活動によっている。そこには時代による変化もみられ、第二次世界大戦直後の闇(やみ)市場時代には的屋が大きく勢力を占め、経済復興期には港湾・土建の半博徒、さらに芸能界の繁栄に伴う芸能興行社、そして大都市の地価高騰時代には不動産関係の地上げ屋暴力団などが勢いづくという推移がみられた。概して1990年ごろからは、金融、不良債権関連、総会屋など企業対象の知能犯的な傾向を強く帯びるようになった。

　前述したように広域暴力団は急速に勢力を拡大してきたが、その資金源に関しても、旧来の覚醒剤売買等にとどまらず、一般の不動産取引や株式売買等の経済活動にまで広範囲にかつ深く入り込むようになってきた。1991年の東京佐川急便事件では、稲川会の前会長・石井進(すすむ)（1924―1991）所有のゴルフ場を利用した384億円の資金調達、前会長による東急電鉄株2739万株の買い占めなど、巨額な金の流れが明るみに出た。稲川会にとどまらず、ほかの組織もいわゆる合法を装う弟分の企業の企業舎弟等を通じ、不動産、金融、建設業界等の裏に、その力を伸ばす傾向を示してきた。とりわけ、投機的なバブル経済は、暴力団の企業活動進出の本格化を後押しする形となった。バブル崩壊後も債権回収等に関与し、民間企業幹部への暴力殺傷事件などをも続発させた。

［岩井弘融］

暴力団対策

対策としての暴力団検挙は、例年のように行われており、そのときどきに多少の効果はみられるが、全体としてはなかなか根絶できないのが実態である。近年、暴力団が市民生活や企業経済活動に広く介入するとともに、その手口も巧妙化し、犯罪にならない程度の脅しやいやがらせ、いわゆるグレーゾーンでの行為がその対策を困難にしていた。このような暴力団の組織や活動が大きな社会問題になり、これに対して新たな対応策が必要となり、1992年3月に暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律（暴力団対策法または暴対法）が新たに施行された。

　この法律の最大の特徴は暴力団の指定制度にある。暴力団員が所属団体の威力を利用して生活や事業の資金を得ていること、構成員の犯罪経歴保有者の比率が一定比率以上であること、代表者の下に階層的に構成されている団体であること、の三つの指定要件に該当する場合、これを一定の手続を経て指定暴力団とする。この指定を受けた暴力団は、口止め料の要求、寄付金・賛助金の要求、下請け受注や物品納入の要求、挨拶(あいさつ)料の要求、用心棒代の要求、不当な利息の債権取り立て、不当な融資要求、事故の示談介入、少年への加入要求、対立抗争時の事務所の使用等の十数項目にわたる禁止行為と、その違反に対する罰則が設けられた。暴対法の実施は、暴力団の不法行為の制御に、ある程度の成功を収めている。

　1999年には、組織犯罪の取締りを目的として、組織犯罪対策三法が制定・施行された。組織的犯罪処罰・犯罪収益規制法は、一定の組織的犯罪に関する刑の加重、一定の犯罪行為により得た収益による法人等の経営権の支配および犯罪収益の隠匿など（いわゆるマネー・ロンダリング）の処罰に関する規定である。通信傍受法は、組織的、密行的に行われる一定の犯罪に対する捜査に関して、いくつかの条件のもとに通信の傍受を認めるものである。また刑事訴訟法の一部改正では、刑事事件の証人等の保護が規定された。これらの対策によって、暴力団の組織犯罪に対するいっそうの制御が期待されるに至った。

［岩井弘融］

寡占化・一極集中・準構成員の拡大

平成に入ってからの暴力団員数の変化は、1991年の9万1000人を境に、翌年の暴力団対策法の施行後、漸次減少し、1995年には7万9300人となった。その後、漸増し、2004年には8万7000人となったが、2010年には7万8600人、2015年には4万6900人と減少している。

　組織の寡占化、一極集中が進み、2015年末には山口組、神戸山口組、稲川会、住吉会の主要4団体で全暴力団構成員等の70.8％を占め、とりわけ山口組は30.1％を占めるに至った。構成員の内容としては、1999年前後より準構成員（暴力団の非公式構成員）の増加が目だつが、要因としては、たび重なる法的規制等に対する組織の隠蔽(いんぺい)、資金調達手段の多様化、犯罪レパートリーの拡大や不透明化があげられる。

　暴力団員数は、全体的には漸次、減少してはいるが、福岡県のような増加の例外もある。

　暴力団に対する種々の対策は講じられてきたが、彼らもまた、その網をくぐり抜け、悪質化する傾向があり、楽観は許されない。

［岩井弘融］

『岩井弘融著『病理集団の構造』（1963・誠信書房）』▽『岩井弘融著『犯罪社会学』（1964・弘文堂）』▽『横山善二郎・川畑久廣著『暴力犯罪の捜査』改訂版（1983・立花書房）』▽『仲村雅彦著『日本の暴力団』（1985・政界往来社）』▽『警察庁編『警察白書　暴力団対策の現状と課題』平成元年版（1989・大蔵省印刷局）』▽『飯柴政次著『組織犯罪対策マニュアル――変貌する暴力団にいかに対処するか』（1990・有斐閣）』▽『加藤久雄著『組織犯罪の研究』（1992・成文堂）』▽『東条伸一郎著『暴力団犯罪』（1995・東京法令出版）』▽『日本弁護士連合会民事介入暴力対策委員会編『注解　暴力団対策法――逐条解説と比較法研究』（1997・民事法研究会）』▽『名古屋弁護士会民事介入暴力対策特別委員会編『暴力団フロント企業――その実態と対策』（2001・民事法研究会）』▽『日本弁護士連合会民事介入暴力対策委員会編『Q&A暴力団110番―基礎知識からトラブル事例と対応まで』全訂増補版（2004・民事法研究会）』▽『三沢明彦監修、読売新聞社会部治安取材班著『組織犯罪』（2004・中央公論新社）』▽『猪野健治・宮崎学編『「暴力団壊滅」論――ヤクザ排除社会の行方』（2010・筑摩書房）』▽『警察庁編『警察白書』各年版（ぎょうせい）』