Yamaguchi Gumi Crime Boss Case (Watanabe v. Fujitake)

Yoshinori Watanabe (defendant) was the boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi (the group), a large organized-crime group operating in Japan. The group was structured with tiers of members, with Watanabe alone at the highest tier, a small group of bosses who reported directly to him in the second tier, subgroups controlled by those bosses in the third tier, etc. Although members of each tier typically reported to and took direction from only a specific boss of the next-highest tier, Watanabe had complete authority over all members of the group. Members of the group used intimidation, extortion, and actual violence to raise money, which was funneled from the lowest tiers up to the highest tiers. Lower-tier members were rewarded with money for their performance, including victories over rival crime groups and even serving prison sentences for crimes committed on behalf of the group. In August 1995, following a violent confrontation with a rival criminal group, a lower-tier member of the group (K) mistakenly shot and killed Fujitake, a police officer who was responding to reports of the earlier confrontation, mistaking Fujitake for a member of the rival group. Fujitake’s wife and children (plaintiffs) sued Watanabe, K, and other involved group members for damages. The first-instance Kyoto District Court held that K and two other members were liable to the wife and children but that Watanabe was not. Fujitake’s wife and children appealed, and the Osaka High Court held that liability extended to Watanabe. Watanabe appealed to the Supreme Court of Japan.