Fortune's Top 5 Biggest Organized Crime Gangs in the World: Guess Who's #1

[JamesG]

1. Yamaguchi Gumi (Yakuza)
Revenue: $80 Billion









The largest known gang in the world is called the Yamaguchi Gumi, one of several groups collectively referred to in Japan as “Yakuza,” a term that is roughly equivalent to the American use of “mafia.”

The Yamaguchi Gumi make more money from drug trafficking than any other source, according to Hiromitsu Suganuma, Japan’s former national police chief. The next two leading sources of revenue are gambling and extortion, followed closely by “dispute resolution.”



The Yakuza date back hundreds of years, and according to Dennis McCarthy, author of An Economic History of Organized Crime, Yakuza groups are among the most centralized in the world.

While other East Asian gangs like Chinese Triads, which are a loose conglomeration of criminals bonded together mostly by familial relations, Yakuza are bound together by “elaborate hierarchies,” and members, once initiated, must subvert all other allegiances in favor of the Yakuza.



Even with the Japanese government cracking down on Yakuza in recent years, this centralized structure has made it easy to attribute a massive amount of revenue to this single gang.













One of the most iconic images of the Yakuza is their intricate, full-body tattoo art. These use a traditional method of manually inserting ink under the skin, known as irezumi. They are seen as a mark of a person’s bravery due to the pain the method inflicts.

Popular designs include dragons, mountains, and women.



Because of this, tattoos still carry a significant stigma in Japanese society.

The mayor of Osaka instituted a ban on government workers with tattoos, telling them to either have their ink removed, or leave and find a job in the private sector.


Full Article Here: http://fortune.com/2014/09/14/bigges...-in-the-world/

[MrCleveland]

I won't be surprised Martin Scorcese may make a film about the Yakuza.