Photo/Illutration A police vehicle carrying Yukio Tanaka, center, leaves Fukuoka Prison at around 5 p.m. on Oct. 28. (Jun Kaneko)

KYOTO—Prosecutors charged a yakuza gangster on Nov. 18 with murder over the killing of a businessman known as the “Gyoza King” nearly a decade ago.

The Kyoto District Public Prosecutors Office also indicted Yukio Tanaka, 56, a high-ranking member of a gang affiliated with Kudo-kai, a special-designated dangerous yakuza syndicate, on charges of violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law.

He is accused of fatally shooting Takayuki Ohigashi, president of the Kyoto-based Ohsho Food Service Corp., a nationwide restaurant chain that serves gyoza dumplings.

Investigators said Tanaka engaged in small talk with them but remained silent during questioning.

Police never found witnesses, weapons or other evidence that directly connects Tanaka to the shooting. But observers think prosecutors have reached the conclusion that they will be able to prove his guilt by accumulating enough circumstantial evidence.

Ohigashi was 72 years old when he was gunned down in the early morning of Dec. 19, 2013.

He had driven alone to the company’s headquarters in Kyoto’s Yamashina Ward. In a parking lot outside, he was shot four times in his chest and stomach.

Since all four shots hit Ohigashi, Kyoto prefectural police deduced that the crime must have been committed by a person familiar with handling guns, which opened the investigation up to the criminal underworld.

The DNA test of a discarded cigarette butt found near the scene matched Tanaka’s.

Police increasingly came to suspect Tanaka carried out the crime after they analyzed the vehicle believed to have been used in the crime and security camera footage. Officers arrested him on Oct. 28 this year.

The joint task force of the prefectural police and the Fukuoka prefectural police, which is well versed in investigations of Kudo-kai, searched more than 10 related locations, including Tanaka’s home and the offices of the gang affiliated with Kudo-kai.

Officers also interviewed former executives of Ohsho on a voluntary basis. They continue to investigate who may have given instructions to Tanaka and whether it was an organized crime.

Related News