David Johnston wrote:

Shadow6865@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 4/28/99 10:50:51 AM, Jedediah@tri-countynet.net writes:

                This is not the way organized crime works in Japan! The
Yakuza are usually left alone by the police if they do not hassle ordinary
citizens so they do not hassle ordinary citizens. In fact many Yakuza gangs
see it as their responsibility to help protect ordinary citizens and would
not be tolerant of a man or orginazation that commited crime like this. Most
Yakuza only bride/blackmail politicians and other upper level government and
buisness offcials. The crimes they do on the street level are prostitution
rings and loan sharking.

You forgot drug dealing.

And--sorry people--protection rackets.

They would never harass an ordinary store owner for

money if they did they would be considered disgraced and dishonored

They have that repute.  How well they live up to it is a matter of dispute.

What I've learned about them indicates that they do, in fact, harass
ordinary store owners and don't feel disgraced or dishonored in the
slightest.  They don't generally firebomb said stores, though--a little
property damage or business disruption is enough to make an ordinary
store owner pay up.

They'd be unlikely to kill Ukyo except as a last resort--certainly not
until after the people sent to intimidate her got beaten up and tossed
out.  They don't kill random citizens, but they DO kill people who cross
them in some way.  There was a news story some time back about a film
director murdered by the Yakuza.  His offense?  He made a film that
portrayed them in a negative light.

-- David