The wealthiest mafia in the world is undergoing a schism and it could get ugly

• Alex Lockie

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Screenshot Via YouTubeShinobu Tsukasa, leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza.

The world's wealthiest mafia group, Japan's Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza, is undergoing a schism that could spark violent gang wars and have significantly affected businesses in and outside of Japan.
The Yamaguchi-gumi, which Morgan Stanley analyst Robert Feldman once called Japan's second largest private equity group, operates in 44 of Japan's 47 prefectures, with a yearly net revenue at $80 billion, as estimated by Fortune magazine.
The group is comprised of 23,400 members, or about 40% of Japan's gangster population, overall.
"The Yamaguchi-gumi is the transmission of the car that runs Japan Inc ... An organization as large as them definitely has some kind of impact on Japan's overall economy," Eric Messersmith, of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University, told CNBC this week.
He added that "whether they know it or not," many multi-national companies that do business in Japan are involved with these shadowy syndicates. Observers are now worried that Japan, the world's third largest economy, may feel serious financial pain due to the split.
Founded in 1915, Yamaguchi-gumi group is surprisingly business-like, with company cards, logos, and official websites much like one might expect from a corporation. Yamaguchi-gumi alone has 72 affiliate groups who pay monthly membership fees within it's organizational structure, but one of the underbosses, Kunio Inoue, is starting his own sect, taking an estimated 3,000 gang members with him.
The offshoot will reportedly be called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, as it will operate out of Japan's western port city, Kobe.
CNBC notes that Kunio Inoue, who will be boss of the newly founded offshoot, criticized current Yamaguchi-gumi boss, Shinobu Tsukasa (sometimes known as Kenichi Shinoda) in an official statement for his "extreme egoism."
cowardlion / ShutterstockKobe, Japan.
Tsukasa is reportedly a strict enforcer of internal rules and demands discipline from his followers. In 2011 — after a 13-year stint in prison for killing a rival with a samurai sword — Tsukasa banned the members of his cartel from using or selling drugs.
Over the last week, numerous reports of shake-up have surfaced in the organization of Yamaguchi-gumi, with 13 affiliates being excommunicated. Inoue, it seems, has rallied some of these disenfranchised parties to stand against Tsukasa's old guard.
As well as economic disorder, violence is feared in the wake of the split. The Guardian notes that in a 2011 interview, Tsukasa told the Sankei "If the Yamaguchi-gumi were to disband, public order would probably worsen."
He added, "I know it may be hard to believe, but I am protecting Yamaguchi-gumi in order to lose the violent groups."

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