Also known as gokudo are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them boryokudan (violent organization) while the yakuza call themselves ninkyo dantai (chivalrous organizations). The English equivalent for the term yakuza is gangster, meaning an individual involved in a Mafia-like criminal organization. The yakuza are known for their strict codes of conduct, their organized fiefdom nature and several unconventional ritual practices such as yubitsume or amputation of the left little finger. Members are often portrayed as males, wearing “sharp suits” with heavily tattooed bodies and slicked hair. This group is still regarded as being among “the most sophisticated and wealthiest criminal organizations”.
Published in Chapter:
Organized Crime as One of the Main Reflections of Terrorism in the Modern World
Irakli Kervalishvili (Georgian Technical University, Georgia)
Copyright: © 2023
|Pages: 12
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-5311-7.ch015
Abstract
At the end of the 20th century, security concern went beyond interstate cooperation and disarmament issues. With the development of the globalization process, organized crime became a bigger topic. According to several estimates, since the 1980s, the number of criminal acts, having been carried out within organized crime, has increased by 5% annually. Members of organized criminal groups gain huge income. By estimates, which were presented in 1999, the total amount of so-called dirty money in the world was from 500 to 1500 billion dollars per year, which was equal to 5% of the world GDP during this period. In 2009 it was estimated to generate $870 billion – an amount equal to 1.5% of global GDP for this period. As of 2016, transnational crime was a $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion annual “business.”