Tadamasa Goto
Tadamasa Goto (後藤 忠政 Gotō Tadamasa, born September 16, 1942)[1] is a retired yakuza. He wis the foondin heid of the Goto-gumi, a Fujinomiya-based affiliate o Japan's lairgest kent yakuza syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi.[2]
Goto, who haes been convictit nine times at least,[2] wis a prominent yakuza, who haed even been dubbit the "John Gotti o Japan"[3], and at one point he was also the largest shareholder in Japan Airlines.[4]
He haed been barred frae enterin the Unitit States till 2001 when he got a special visa deal frae the FBI.[5]
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Career owerview
His career as a yakuza offeecially began in 1963 when he joined an Inagawa affiliate based in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka. Efter leavin the Inagawa, he joined the Tenshin-kai, a Kobe-based tertiary affiliate o the Yamaguchi-gumi, formin a branch of the Tenshin-kai in Fujinomiya.[6] Goto wis rapidly promotit, an in 1969 he formit his awn clan, the Goto-gumi, in Fujinomiya as a seicontary affiliate o the Yamaguchi-gumi.[1] He entered the Kobe heidquarters o the Yamaguchi-gumi in its 4t era (1984–1985),[1] an haed been in the heidquarters till 2008 when he wis expelled.[6]
FBI scandal
In 2001, eter dealin wi the FBI, he entered the Unitit States tae receive a liver transplant, an gave a $100,000 donation tae the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.[7] Goto got his new liver, frae a queue-jumpin transplant,[8] in the year when 186 fowk in the Los Angeles region dee'd waitin for a liver.[5] Although the FBI wad want some crucial information aboot the Yamaguchi-gumi's activities in the Unitit States, Goto anerlie providit little uiseful information,[5] housomeivver it includit a clue aboot some activities o Susumu Kajiyama the "Emperor o Loan Shairks".[9] Jake Adelstein, the journalist who uncovered the transplant story, receivit daith threats.[10] When he wis investigatin the scandal for the Yomiuri newspaper, he haed a formal meetin wi mobsters associatit wi Goto, where he wis tauld, "erase the story or be erased, your family too".[3]
Retirement
Goto began disappearin frae the yakuza scene in 2008 efter allegedly being forcit intae retirement bi the Kobe heidquarters' rulin faction led bi Kiyoshi Takayama o the Kodo-kai.[11] His expulsion frae the Yamaguchi-gumi wis offeecially confirmit bi the heidquarters on 14 October 2008.[6] Efter retirement, he became a Buddhist priest.[12] In an airticle on The Daily Beast, journalist Jake Adelstein wrote that Goto haes reemergit as the heid o a new gang, Kyushu Seido-kai.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi Complete Databook 2008 Edition : "Tadamasa Goto" (p.137–138), February 1, 2009, Mediax, ISBN 978-4-86201-358-3 (Japanese)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Overview of the Goto-gumi (from the authority researches)", Japan Subculture Research Center (Japanese)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "FBI helped Japanese gangster to have life-saving transplant in US", May 31, 2008, The Independent
- ↑ "First Person: ‘I don’t know if I’m still on a hit list’", June 12, 2010, The Financial Times
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Japanese gang figures got new livers at UCLA", May 30, 2008, Los Angeles Times
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Tadamasa Goto", Yakuza Wiki (Japanese)
- ↑ "Tadamasa Goto gives up the gangster life", April 8, 2009, The First Post
- ↑ "Gangster boss who turned to God", April 10, 2009, The Independent
- ↑ "The dark side of the rising sun", June 15, 2008, Canada.com
- ↑ "Japanese underworld boss quits crime to turn Buddhist", April 7, 2009, The Guardian
- ↑ "Police's 'Yamaguchi-gumi Cleanup Operation' behind the O-zumo's 'Baseball Gambling'", July 1, 2010, Gendai Business (Japanese)
- ↑ "Yakuza boss reincarnated as Buddhist priest", April 9, 2009, Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ "Yakuza Goes Hollywood", Sept. 23, 2011, The Daily Beast
Further readin
- Adelstein, Jake. "This Mob Is Big in Japan", 11 May 2008.
