Japan’s yakuza once powerful organized crime figures are reduced to stealing Pokmon cards [Video]

Tokyo Metropolitan Police last week arrested an executive of the Takinogawa gang, a faction of Japan’s second-most powerful organized crime syndicate — the Sumiyoshi-kai.

His alleged crime? Police accuse him of stealing Pokémon cards.

Yakuza are members of organized crime syndicates, the Japanese equivalents of gangsters or mafiosos. Membership peaked in the 1960s when numbers swelled to more than 180,000.

In media, the yakuza are often depicted as terrifying figures, known for full-body tattoos and involvement in loansharking, extortion, and violence.

The recent arrest challenges that stereotype.

SoraNews24 reported that Keita Saito, a 39-year-old kanbu, or leader, was arrested in late April over a petty theft related to a December 2022 office break-in.

According to the news outlet, items worth 252,000 yen, or $1,621, were stolen, which included 25 Pokémon trading cards.

SoraNews24 noted an …