Satoru Nomura (77), the organization's leader and president, was sentenced to death in the first trial after being charged with murder and other crimes in four cases in which the Kudo-kai, a designated dangerous organized crime group in Kitakyushu City, attacked citizens. The Fukuoka High Court canceled the first instance verdict and sentenced him to life in prison.

In previous trials, Nomura had maintained his innocence, saying there was no collusion in any of the cases.

Four indictment cases and defendant's claims

Defendant Nomura, the head of the Kudo-kai, and Defendant Tagami, number two, were arrested 10 years ago (September 2014) when the Fukuoka Prefectural Police launched a thorough crackdown called ``Operation Destruction,'' and the Kudo-kai attacked citizens. He was charged in four cases.



▽The first incident occurred 26 years ago (1998) in the downtown area of ​​Kokura Kita Ward, Kitakyushu City, when the former head of a fishing cooperative was shot and killed at close range.He was charged with murder. Masu.

Concessions such as port construction work are said to be behind the incident.



The second incident occurred 12 years ago (2012) when a former Fukuoka Prefectural Police officer, who had been in charge of investigating organized crime for many years, was shot and seriously injured in the lower back and thighs.

The former police officer was one of the few police officers who could speak on an equal footing with defendant Nomura and other Kudokai executives.



The following year (2013), a nurse at the cosmetic surgery clinic where Nomura was attending was seriously injured when she was stabbed on a sidewalk in Fukuoka's Hakata Ward on her way home.

Prior to the incident, Nomura was said to have complained about the nurses' customer service and treatment.



▽The fourth incident was an attack on a dentist in 2014.

A dentist in Kokura Kita Ward, Kitakyushu City was stabbed in the chest and abdomen on his way to work, sustaining serious injuries.

The dentist was the grandson of the former head of the fishing cooperative who was killed in the first incident.

The three attacks, in which a former police officer, a nurse, and a dentist were attacked, are facing charges including attempted organized murder, which violates the Organized Crime Punishment Act.



At the first trial, both Nomura and Tagami denied any involvement and claimed complete innocence, but the verdict acknowledged that Nomura was involved as the mastermind in all four cases, and the defendants are appealing the charges. I did.



At the second trial, Nomura continued to maintain his innocence in all cases, while Tagami reversed his involvement by saying that out of the four cases, two of the cases, in which a nurse and a dentist were each attacked with a knife, were independently committed. He admitted that there was no murderous intent in either case, and claimed that the charge was ``limited to injury.''