Story highlights
- Tatsuyuki Hishida was found tied up and bleeding, police say; autopsy shows he was beaten to death
- Police say he was a boss in Japan's largest crime syndicate, which recently split into two factions
Japanese gang boss found beaten to death
Photos: The yakuza: Inside Japan's murky criminal underworld
Kenichi Shinoda (center), head of Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, after his release from prison in 2011.
Hide Caption
1 of 5
Photos: The yakuza: Inside Japan's murky criminal underworld
Police officers raid the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi's splinter group, the Yamaken-gumi, on September 9, 2015 in Kobe, Japan.
Hide Caption
2 of 5
Photos: The yakuza: Inside Japan's murky criminal underworld
A retired yakuza boss, who does not wish to be identified, is pictured at his residence in Tokyo in 2009. His tattoo on his back features a carp swimming upstream against a waterfall.
Hide Caption
3 of 5
Photos: The yakuza: Inside Japan's murky criminal underworld
A 53-year-old former yakuza member shows off his silicone finger during a visit to prosthetics specialist Shintaro Hayashi's office in Tokyo. There are two situations in which a gang member chops off a digit, usually a pinkie: When he does it in lieu of paying his debts or to atone for a mistake that could cost his membership or his life, it's called a "dead finger." If he sacrifices a finger for a subordinate or friend, that's a "living finger."
Hide Caption
4 of 5
Photos: The yakuza: Inside Japan's murky criminal underworld
Relatives carry the body of Iccho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki who was shot and killed by Yamaguchi-gumi member Tetsuya Shiroo, in April 18, 2007.
Hide Caption
5 of 5
