Organized crime groups struggling with declining membership and profits are increasingly adopting techniques honed by a new breed of thugs who operate more anonymously courtesy of social media to recruit and carry out criminal activities.

In the past, yakuza groups flaunted their presence by hanging large signs outside their city offices as one way to intimidate businesses in the area.

But the times have changed with repeated crackdowns by the police.

“Affiliation with organized crime groups has become a burden now and there are fewer opportunities for them to operate out in the open,” noted Noboru Hirosue, a part-time researcher at the Kyoto-based Ryukoku University Criminology Research Center.

National Police Agency (NPA) officials suspect that organized crime groups are increasingly tying up with “tokuryu” anonymous criminal groups whose members are loosely connected through social media and rely on the anonymity of disposable cellphones to commit robberies and fraud.

And now the Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate, which boasts the second largest number of gang members in Japan after the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi, is retreating further from public view.

SELLING UP AND MOVING OUT

It is in the process of selling its headquarters in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, according to investigative sources. But police are still not sure where the gang plans to set up its new base.

The NPA said Sumiyoshi-kai has about 3,200 members on its payroll as well as others who engage in all sorts of criminal activity although they are not full-fledged members.

In November 2023, the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission designated the Shinjuku condominium now on sale as the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters.

In June 2024, the Tokyo District Court, acting on a request from the local neighborhood association, issued a temporary injunction banning use of the condo as the gang’s headquarters.

As of August, the gang was in the process of moving out of the office, investigative sources. However, it has not been completely cleared because the gang could not find a moving company willing to remove large items, such as desks.

Sumiyoshi-kai members notified lawyers acting on behalf of the neighborhood association of their intention to sell the condo. From late last year until early in 2025, the gang allowed lawyers for the neighbors to examine the interior of the condo.

The lawyers said they would continue to work with the gang to ensure it vacates the premises once and for all.

Sumiyoshi-kai still has not found a new home. This is likely because announcing it had found a site would only inflame residents in the new area.

“Rather than having a single headquarters, the gang may decide to move from place to place after setting up liaison offices in various locations,” said a high-ranking police official.

Normally, if an organized crime syndicate moves its headquarters, the public safety commission will publicize the change of address in government documents.

The commission can also issue orders demanding that gang members stop extorting money or ban the use of the main office if there is any prospect that the lives of neighbors could be in danger.

But if the public safety commission has no idea where the gang’s headquarters is, it cannot issue written instructions or file civil lawsuits seeking to turf the gang from the community.

And if the gang did not have a specific headquarters, it would be difficult to assign a police station to take charge of monitoring the group’s activities.

“Our true hope is that the gang will not sell its Shinjuku base,” said a high-ranking police official.

At the end of 2024, the total number of gang members nationwide fell to under 20,000 for the first time. In 1963, gangs nationwide had a peak membership of around 184,100.

Membership numbers have been dwindling since the enactment of a law in 1992 to clamp down on organized crime groups.

But as gang membership has declined, tokuryu groups have become more active and they are believed to be involved in a wide range of crimes, including robbery, scams and operating online casinos.

In 2024, police said that 10,105 individuals linked with tokuryu groups were detained for crimes involving money. The figure compared with the 8,249 organized crime members detained by police for similar activities.

Close to 40 percent of those detained with ties to tokuryu groups were recruited for “yami baito” (shady part-time jobs) through social media.

Police suspect that organized crime gangs and tokuryu groups are increasingly working together. They also believe that the tokuryu groups are funneling some of their earnings to the gangs.

Ryukoku University’s Hirosue said the case of Sumiyoshi-kai not establishing a visible headquarters could be a sign it was turning into a tokuryu group to avoid arrest by police.

He added that organized gangs would increasingly move further underground, making it more difficult for police to crack down.

“The day may come when the gangs have no headquarters and handle everything over the internet,” Hirosue said. “A new law will then be needed to grasp the reality of what the gangs are doing.”