Japan's yakuza organized-crime groups, having operated openly in their home country for more than a century, are facing tougher treatment by an overseas foe: the U.S. Obama administration.
The largest of Japan's yakuza organizations, the Yamaguchi- gumi, and two of its leaders will have their U.S. assets frozen and transactions barred under sanctions announced yesterday by the Treasury Department.
The group earns "billions of dollars" a year from crimes in Japan and abroad, including drug and human trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and fraud, the department said in a statement. The U.S. move represents "a slap in the face of the Japanese government" for failing to rein in organized crime, said Jake Adelstein, a Tokyo-based writer who covers the yakuza. (Bloomberg)