Tokyo police have arrested a 60-year-old leader of a Sumiyoshi-kai affiliate gang and seven others over an office run 55 meters from an elementary school, inside a zone where organized crime groups are barred from operating.
Hiroshi Koyama, identified as a gang leader in the designated organized crime group Sumiyoshi-kai, and the seven others are suspected of setting up and running the office in Taito Ward between January and September, TV Asahi reported.
The building used as the office is registered in Koyama's name, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. It stands 55 meters from the school, well inside the 200-meter zone where gang offices are prohibited.
Koyama and the others have either denied the allegations or declined to answer questions, the network reported.
Zoning as enforcement
The case rests on location rather than on any alleged criminal act by the syndicate. Under the rules, a gang office is itself the violation when it sits inside the exclusion zone around a school.