- Satoru Nomura, 77, is head of the violent crime syndicate Kudo-kai Yakuza
- He was initially sentenced to death by the Fukoka court in 2021
- Nomura was the first senior yakuza member to receive a death sentence
A notorious yakuza boss has had his death sentence overturned after he became the first ever senior member to receive the sentence in 2021. He told the judge: “You will regret this decision for the rest of your life.”
Satoru Nomura, 77, was sentenced to life in prison by the Fukoka High Court on Tuesday after being found not guilty of his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of a former head of a fishing cooperative in 1998.
He was initially sentenced to death for four counts of attacks on ordinary citizens, including murder.
But the head of the violent crime syndicate Kudo-kai was acquitted of the shooting, with Judge Futoshi Ichikawa saying he “cannot recognize Nomura’s complicity based on logical or empirical reasoning.”
However, the elderly gang boss was found guilty of three counts of attempted organized murder of a former police officer, a nurse and a dentist between 2012 and 2014.
Yakuza godfather Satoru Nomura, 77, head of the Kudo-kai gang, was sentenced to death for conspiracy to commit murder in 2021, but his execution was thrown out on Tuesday
Nomura was revealed to be the ultimate mastermind behind all four attacks, despite his continued denial of his involvement.
The court also upheld the 2021 Fukoka District Court ruling that imposed life imprisonment on 67-year-old Fumio Tanoue, the gang’s second-in-command.
The Supreme Court recognized that both Nomura and Tanoue had significant decision-making power and status within the gang, concluding that the duo conspired with other Kudo-kai members in the attacks.
Nomura’s defense tried to claim his innocence, but Tanoue admitted to ordering Kudo-kai members to attack the nurse and dentist – but denied any intent to kill, according to The Japan Times.
Prosecutors reportedly said there were no problems with the lower court’s ruling, which said the couple supported the order of the attacks.
After pleading not guilty at the Fukoka court, Tanoue recanted his claim at the Supreme Court hearing, saying he ordered the two attacks himself, without any cooperation from Nomura.
But his statement was deemed unreliable by prosecutors who believed he was trying to protect his leader.
He reportedly remained expressionless and stared straight at Judge Ichikawa as he read out that his death sentence had been overturned.
Tsuyoshi Iwashita, the head of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, vowed to continue his efforts to eradicate Kudo-kai in a statement issued following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Kudo-kai is often described as Japan’s ‘most violent’ yakuza gang.
The yakuza grew from the chaos of post-war Japan into multi-billion-dollar criminal organizations involved in everything from drugs and prostitution to protection fraud and white-collar crime.
The Kudo-kai is recognized by local authorities as a particularly dangerous yakuza group due to its apparent willingness to attack civilians, according to local reports.
Unlike the Italian mafia or the Chinese triads, the yakuza has long occupied a gray area in Japanese society; they are not illegal and each group has its own headquarters, in full view of the police.