Yakuza Hitman Posed As Journalist To Wipe Out Rivals

Japanese cops who questioned a yakuza hitman failed to stop him killing two rivals after he told them he was a photographer.

Toshio Maruyama, 68, who is a member of the Kodo-kai, the top affiliate gang of the Yamaguchi-gumi which is Japan’s largest in the accuser organisation, he turned up outside the offices of a rival gang when they were having a meeting.

It is believed that the elderly man knowing that he had not many years of life left had entrusted his family into the care of the gang, knowing they would be well looked after while he served the rest of his life in jail.

Two members of the Hyogo Prefectural Police were present when he turned up at the address in Japan’s Kobe City and questioned the man about what he was doing there, and he told them he was a “weekly magazine reporter” and was holding the digital camera to prove his credentials.

He was then left to get on with his business but 10 minutes later when Takayasu Sato, 43, and Kenji Nakagawa, 39, walked out of their office, he pulled out a pump action shotgun and shot them both dead at close range.

The two men received wounds to the neck and chest and we declared dead on arrival at the local hospital.

The two police officers managed to wrestle the fake magazine reported to the ground, and they also discovered he had two other guns on his person.

They believe the assassination was a revenge attack for incident in August when the gunmen on a motorcycle taken a shot at a gang member of the Yamaguchi-gumi.

Maruyama is a resident of Kagoshima City, which is in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture. According to weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun the Kodo-kai enlisted Maruyama as a hitman to carry out the revenge attack.

A gang insider told local media: “After taking into consideration that he doesn’t have many years left, he undertook the hitman role, leaving his family under the care of the [Kodo-kai].”