The biggest yakuza crime syndicate in Japan has promised to put an end to its long-running conflict with a rival gang and stop causing “trouble,” according to officials.
The mafia-like organisations are struggling with dwindling membership and heightened police enforcement.
According to reports, three senior Yamaguchi-gumi members visited the Hyogo Prefectural police headquarters on Monday and gave officers a letter promising to “never cause any trouble” and “end all internal fighting.”
When over a dozen sections split off to establish the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in 2015, the Yamaguchi-gumi, one of the biggest and richest crime gangs in the world, became involved in a violent conflict with offshoot groups.
Since then, intensifying violence between the two warring crime organizations has seen rival gangsters gunned down or stabbed in dozens of incidents, according to police.
The armed conflict, often erupting on public streets in cities across central and western Japan, has put pressure on authorities to toughen restrictions on the gangs.
“Yakuza” is a blanket term for Japan’s organized crime groups, which sit in a gray area in the country. Though they are not outlawed, the groups are regulated and monitored by authorities.
In 2020, police formally designated the Yamaguchi-gumi and its splinter group as gangs at war – giving officers the ability to increase surveillance, restrict their activities, including prohibiting the use of their offices and ability to raise funds.
It is unclear whether the rival splinter group, Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, has responded to the ceasefire pledge.
Police said they would be “closely monitoring the movements of both groups” as the declaration to end the turf war may be one-sided.
Membership to yakuza groups across Japan has been in decline over recent decades.
In 2024, the number of members of organized crime syndicates stood at 18,800, hitting a record low and falling below 20,000 for the first time, according to police data.
