Home Australia Yakuza boss who warned judge ‘you’ll regret this decision for the rest of your life’ when he was sentenced to death has his execution OVERTURNED and will now serve life sentence

Yakuza boss who warned judge ‘you’ll regret this decision for the rest of your life’ when he was sentenced to death has his execution OVERTURNED and will now serve life sentence

by Elijah
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Yakuza godfather Satoru Nomura, 77, leader of the Kudo-kai gang, was sentenced to death for plotting to commit murder in 2021 but had his execution overturned on Tuesday
  • Satoru Nomura, 77, is the leader of the violent Kudo-kai Yakuza crime syndicate
  • He was initially sentenced to death by the Fukoka Distict Court in 2021
  • Nomura was the first senior yakuza member to receive a death sentence

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A notorious yakuza boss has had his death sentence overturned after he became the first ever senior member to receive the sentence in 2021 – telling the judge ‘you will regret this decision for the rest of your life’.

Satoru Nomura, 77, was handed a life sentence at the Fukoka High Court on Tuesday after he was 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 over four cases of attacks on ordinary citizens – including murder.

But the leader of the violent Kudo-kai crime syndicate was acquitted of the shooting, while judge Futoshi Ichikawa said he ‘cannot recognize Nomura’s complicity through logical or empirical reasoning’.

However, the elderly gang boss was found guilty of three counts of attempted organized murder against a former police officer, a nurse and a dentist between 2012 and 2014.

Yakuza godfather Satoru Nomura, 77, leader of the Kudo-kai gang, was sentenced to death for plotting to commit murder in 2021 but had his execution overturned on Tuesday

Yakuza godfather Satoru Nomura, 77, leader of the Kudo-kai gang, was sentenced to death for plotting to commit murder in 2021 but had his execution overturned on Tuesday

Nomura was found to be the ultimate mastermind behind all four attacks, despite his constant denial of his involvement.

The court also upheld the Fukoka District Court’s 2021 decision to sentence Fumio Tanoue, 67, the gang’s second-in-command, to life imprisonment.

The Supreme Court recognized that both Nomura and Tanoue had significant decision-making power and status within the gang, and concluded that the duo conspired with other Kudo-kai members in the attacks.

Nomura’s defense tried to maintain his innocence, but Tanoue admitted to directing Kudo-kai members to attack the nurse and dentist — but denied any intent to kill, according to Japan Times.

Prosecutors reportedly said there were no problems with the lower court’s ruling, which said the pair had been behind the sequence of attacks.

After pleading not guilty at the Fukoka District Court, Tanoue reversed his plea during the High Court hearing, saying he ordered the two attacks on his own without any cooperation from Nomura.

But his statement was deemed unreliable by prosecutors who believed he was trying to protect his manager.

He reportedly remained expressionless and stared directly at Judge Ichikawa as he read out that his death sentence had been overturned.

Tsuyoshi Iwashita, the head of Fukuoka Prefectural Police, vowed to continue efforts to ‘eradicate’ Kudo-kai in a statement issued after the Supreme Court ruling.

The Kudo-kai are often described as Japan’s ‘most violent’ yakuza gang.

The yakuza grew from the chaos of post-war Japan into multibillion-dollar criminal organizations involved in everything from drugs and prostitution to protection rackets and white-collar crime.

Kudo-kai is recognized as a particularly dangerous yakuza group by local governments because of its apparent willingness to target civilians, local reports have stated.

Unlike the Italian mafia or Chinese triads, the yakuza have long occupied a gray area in Japanese society – they are not illegal, and each group has its own headquarters with full oversight of the police.

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