was the former leader of the Suishin-kai, a

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

-based ''

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

'' group affiliated with the

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest ''yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for longshoreman, dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest organized cr ...

, the largest ''yakuza'' organization in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Murder of Iccho Itoh

On April 17, 2007, Shiroo shot Iccho Itoh, the mayor of

, who died early the next morning. Shiroo's apparent motive for the assassination was a grudge over an insurance claim. City officials had refused to compensate him for a Yamaguchi-gumi vehicle that was damaged at a public works construction site in 2003. It was reported in the Japanese press that prior to the shooting, Shiroo had mailed a letter to

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

outlining his grudges against the mayor and the city government. In addition to the insurance claim, Shiroo was also reportedly angry that a construction company linked to his gang had been denied a contract by the city government. He later told police that he had been planning the assassination since February. Shiroo approached Itoh at 7:50 pm outside his campaign office near

Nagasaki Station is a railway station in Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It is the terminus of the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen and the Nagasaki Main Line, as well as the westernmost high-speed Shinkansen r ...

, shooting him twice in the back with an American-made

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

. Local police quickly subdued and arrested Shiroo, who reportedly later told police that he had planned to commit

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

after killing the mayor. Shiroo was indicted by the Nagasaki District Public Prosecutor's office for murder, gun possession and obstruction of election campaigning. Two of Shiroo's associates, Hiromi Ogawa and Masaki Yamashita, were arrested for helping Shiroo plan the killing, but charges were later dropped due to insufficient evidence. Shiroo denied that he had told anyone of his plans to assassinate Itoh. Police sources stated that the killing was a result of this personal grudge, and was not authorized by the Yamaguchi-gumi leadership. After the mayor's death, Shiroo's gang, the Suishin-kai, announced that it would voluntarily disband.

Legal proceedings and conviction

His trial began on January 22, 2008. Prosecutors sought

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

for him and he was sentenced to death on May 26, 2008. However, the Fukuoka High Court revoked the death sentence and sentenced him to life imprisonment on September 29, 2009. Shiroo died at Osaka Medical prison in 2020.

References

Yakuza members Yamaguchi-gumi Japanese assassins 1947 births 2020 deaths Japanese prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by Japan People convicted of murder by Japan Japanese people convicted of murder {{japan-crime-stub Japanese people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Japanese detention

Murder of Iccho Itoh

Legal proceedings and conviction

See also

References