YAKUZA: JAPANESE MAFIA

By: Ignacio Esteban

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Yakuza is a criminal enterprise in Japan that was founded in the 17th century and has ties to other countries around the world including the United States. Yakuza translated means gangster and have a strict code of conduct including the act of “yubitsume” meaning finger-shortening which is a ritual act of slicing off the little finger at the joint to atone for a mistake.
In 2011, the Obama administration included the Yakuza on a list of transnational criminal organizations that “facilitate and aggravate violent civil conflicts”. This crime syndicate is extremely dangerous and is involved in a variety of illegal activities to include drug dealing, human trafficking, extortion, international firearms smuggling, money laundering, assaults and murder. Gang wars and the use of violence has led them to be a pariah in Japanese society with membership declining. This is the history of Yakuza, a violent international crime syndicate impacting Asia, the United States and the world.