Tokyo Underworld
Page 40
own lawyers’ lawsuits brought against 228–9, 231–2, 247, 249
physical appearance of 65–6, 136–7
police file on 118, 178, 251–2
revenge fantasy of 238–9
sausage factory of 112, 145
second and fourth marriages of see Koizumi, Yae
as soft touch 184
third wife of see Miyoko
in US occupation of Japan 14
Wong’s lawsuit brought against 218–25, 226, 247, 248, 249, 251–2
wrestling by 38, 43–4, 45
Zappetti, Patti 140
Zappetti, Vincent 134, 140, 228, 241–2
Zia pizzeria 267
Outdoor markets in Tokyo were up and running almost from the moment hostilities ceased, and well before the conquering Americans had set foot on Japanese soil. Operated by gangsters, the black markets – like the one shown here in Shinjuku (which belonged to the mob boss Kinosuke Ozu and peddled supplies stolen from the Japanese Imperial Army) – were for a time the only thing that kept the war-ravaged, impoverished populace from starvation. (Mainichi Shimbun)
It didn’t take long for the initially wary American soldier to start relaxing and enjoying what Japan had to offer. In addition to rickshaw rides and government-sponsored hostesses supplied by the Japanese Recreation and Amusement Association to satisfy the Yankee libido, this could also mean highly lucrative participation in the underground markets. (Mainichi Shimbun)
Post-war economic hardship forced many Japanese to find new ways of making a living. A top-ranked but financially strapped sumo wrestler named Rikidozan, shown here in 1950 in formal sumo garb that dates back centuries, turned to the crass imported American ‘sport’ of professional wrestling and, in the process, ignited an extraordinary craze. (Mainichi Shimbun)
Stirring performances against larger American opponents turned the new puroresura into a wildly idolized figure and made him one of post-war Japan’s first multimillionaires. Rikidozan displayed his revamped public persona in this 1956 photo in front of his new home. Guard dogs and armed watchmmen kept the uninvited away, especially during secret night-time, illegal gambling sessions which Riki liked to organize for his influential political, corporate and underworld friends – members of the emerging ruling class in Japan. (Mainichi Shimbun)
The repeated sight, however scripted, of foreign foes like Killer Kowalski being cut down to size by homegrown grapplers, never tired Japanese fans. Such displays helped restore the wounded national psyche bruised and battered by defeat in war. (Kyodo)
Rikidozan’s wedding to the daughter of a police inspector in June 1963. In six months he would be dead from a gangster’s knife. Japanese historians would later hail him as one of the most influential social figures of the twentieth century in Japan because of his electrifying impact on the national spirit. At the time, however, the public was largely unaware of his non-Japanese origins (a fact intentionally kept secret by Riki’s handlers), as well as his clandestine honorary membership in one of Tokyo’s largest criminal organizations. (Kyodo)
American John MacFarland, a popular professional wrestler in Japan known as ‘The Wild Bull of Nebraska’, is shown here being arrested by the Tokyo police for his role in the Imperial Hotel diamond robbery. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
MacFarland’s escapade stunned a nation of neophyte wrestling addicts, who jammed public squares to watch matches telecast live on outdoor TV. Some cynics cracked that MacFarland was merely carrying to its logical extension the role of villain that was thrust upon the American wrestler as a foil for his purehearted and inevitably victorious Japanese opponent. These enormously popular morality plays did more than lift the country’s mood. Among other things, they sparked a huge nationwide boom in television sales, which helped to rejuvenate the post-war Japanese economy. (Mainichi Shimbun)
The New Latin Quarter, one of Tokyo’s premier nightclubs, was a notorious watering hole for the foreign intelligence community and the Japanese underworld. (Kyodo)
Katsushi Murata, a young foot soldier in the Sumiyoshi crime syndicate, fatally stabbed Rikidozan during a bloody encounter in the New Latin Quarter men’s room – a deed that earned Murata enduring fame in Japan. Some suspected it was all a part of a CIA plot. (Kyodo)
Murata’s star power was evident in this March 1989 edition of the Yukan Fuji, Japan’s leading tabloid. With a great front-page flourish, it reported the arrest of Murata and his wife for extortion and for the assault of a nineteen-year-old woman. Murata, who by this time had risen high in the Sumiyoshi hierarchy, was released without being charged after he formally denied participating in any of the violence. Noticing how weakened Murata had become from a case of diabetes, the leading yakuza affliction, a police officer commented, ‘He doesn’t look like he is going to hit anyone anymore.’ (Kyodo)
Hisayuki Machii, the Crime Boss of Tokyo, in 1966. One of his many nicknames was Fanso or ‘violent bull’, in tribute to what lay underneath his calm outward demeanor. He is said to have killed at least two men with his bare hands. He once worked for American Intelligence. (Kyodo)
Machii later became a successful international businessman and was made an honorary citizen of Los Angeles. Still, he continued to pay his respects at formal yakuza functions like this 1981 funeral of his blood brother Kazuo Taoka, gang boss of the Osaka-Kobe.
Inside the Mikado, once described by an American visitor as ‘one giant glorious warehouse of sex’. The largest cabaret in the world, with 1,000 hostesses and lavish Las Vegas-style stage shows, the Mikado was a den of international intrigue, where a broad spectrum of female talent, from bare-breasted dancers to coquettish kimonoed companions, used their charms to soften up unsuspecting foreign clients for ‘Japan, Inc.’. (Mainichi Shimbun)
Sojka ‘Maria’ Hannelore, also known as ‘The Queen of the Night World’, claimed to be the most successful foreign call girl in Tokyo history.
Maria plied her trade at the ‘Chanté Akasaka’, a ‘love hotel’ in demotic Japanese. The Chanté was a monument to a certain kind of Western-style, Disneyesque architecture that took root in postwar Japan. Maria was murdered at the Chanté in 1978, at the age of forty: she was found strangled to death in one of the rooms, the victim of an unsatisfied customer. Her life story was later made into a TV movie by the Tokyo Broadcasting System. (Mainichi Shimbun)
Nick Zappetti, The Mafia Boss of Tokyo, on the day in 1982 that he became a Japanese citizen and changed his name to Koizumi. He is posing in a formal Japanese kimono at his Roppongi restaurant, Nicola.
Nicola, shown here renovated in 1998, was famous for helping to create the international night-time playground of Roppongi. The restaurant was a magnet for Hollywood movie stars, Tokyo gangsters and lawsuits. (Gregg Davis Photos)
A 1988 ad for the Nicola restaurants lists Nick Zappetti’s restaurant holdings – which by then had divided to less than half of his former empire. His Japanese partner had taken the rest.
A menu from Nicola’s restaurant, under the proprietorship of Nick Zappetti’s former partner.
Yoshio Kodama was a man of many masks: feared right-wing fixer, founder of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, confidant to yakuza kingpins, CIA advisor and linchpin of the Lockheed Bribery Scandal. Kodama is shown on his way to the Tokyo District Court for his day of reckoning in 1977. (Kyodo)
Kakuei Tanaka, Japan’s most powerful post-war politician, on the day of his arrest for accepting a bribe from Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. While out on bail, Tanaka continued to run the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from behind the scenes, as he fought his conviction in the higher courts. He died in a Tokyo hospital in 1993 at the age of seventy-five, while the Supreme Court was still hearing his appeal. (Kyodo)
Tanaka’s disciples hard at work running the government for him in 1986. In the middle is his handpicked heir, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan from 1982 to 1987. On the far right is Shin Kanemaru, who would soon be forced to resign his Diet post because of his relationship with a leading g
ang boss named Susumu Ishii. To the left of Nakasone is Ryutaro Hashimoto, who would oversee a variety of corruption scandals, first as Finance Minister in the early 1990s and then as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1998. (Kyodo)
Susumu Ishii, boss of the second largest crime syndicate in Japan, in 1989. Among Ishii’s many business associates was Prescott Bush, brother of the then-president of the United States. (Kyodo)
In Tokyo in March 1992, Japanese gangsters protest the passage of new legislation designed to limit their ability to formally organize and perform activities as a group. ‘Gangsters have rights too!’ says one placard. (Kyodo)
Ryuichi Koike, a sokaiya (financial racketeer) who, in 1997, helped cause the downfall of Japan’s oldest brokerage house, Yamaichi Securities. (Kyodo)
American entrepreneur Richard Roa advised Tokyo yakuza on business matters and got caught up in the gangland ‘Bob Hope Golf Club’ scam.