Editing Yakuza (section)

=== Designated yakuza (''Shitei Bōryokudan'') ===
A {{nihongo|designated yakuza|指定暴力団|Shitei Bōryokudan}}<ref>[http://www.npa.go.jp/english/kokusai/20.pdf "Police of Japan 2011, Criminal Investigation : 2. Fight Against Organized Crime"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810212614/http://www.npa.go.jp/english/kokusai/20.pdf |date=10 August 2011 }}, December 2009, ''[[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]]''</ref> is a "particularly harmful" yakuza group<ref>[http://www.fukuoka-boutui.or.jp/mob/index.html "Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119010309/http://www.fukuoka-boutui.or.jp/mob/index.html |date=19 January 2012 }}, ''[[Fukuoka Prefecture|The Fukuoka Prefectural Center for the Elimination of Boryokudan]]'' {{in lang|ja}}</ref> registered by the [[Japanese prefectures|Prefectural]] [[National Public Safety Commission (Japan)|Public Safety Commissions]] under the {{nihongo|Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members|暴力団対策法|Bōryokudan Taisaku Hō}} enacted in 1991.<ref>[http://www.police.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp/info/keiji/bouryoku_taisaku/jyousei/bouryoku-jyousei.html "Boryokudan Comprehensive Measures – The Condition of the Boryokudan"], December 2010, ''[[Hokkaido Prefecture|Hokkaido Prefectural]] [[Japanese Police|Police]]'' {{in lang|ja}}</ref> Groups are designated as {{nihongo3|designated yakuza||Shitei Bōryokudan}} if their members take advantage of the gang's influence to do business, are structured to have one leader, and have a large portion of their members hold criminal records.<ref name="openscholarship.wustl.edu"/> After the Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members was enacted, many yakuza syndicates made efforts to restructure to appear more professional and legitimate.<ref name="openscholarship.wustl.edu">{{cite journal|last1=Reilly|first1=Edward|title=Criminalizing Yakuza Membership: A Comparative Study of the Anti-Boryokudan Law|journal=Washington University Global Studies Law Review|date=1 January 2014|volume=13|issue=4|pages=801–829|id= {{Gale|A418089219}} |url=https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_globalstudies/vol13/iss4/9/}}</ref>

As of 2024, Under the Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members, the Prefectural Public Safety Commissions have registered 25 syndicates as the designated yakuza groups. Three of these organizations have more than 1,000 regular members, eight have more than 100, and 14 have less than 100. [[Fukuoka Prefecture]] has the largest number of designated yakuza groups among all of the prefectures, at 5; the [[Kudo-kai]], the [[Taishu-kai]], the [[Fukuhaku-kai]], the [[Dojin-kai]], and the [[Kyushu Seido-kai|Namikawa-kai]].<ref name="npa"/>

In August 2021, the Fukuoka District Court sentenced [[Satoru Nomura]], the fifth head of [[Kudo-kai]], to death for murder and attempted murder. This was the first death sentence handed down to a designated yakuza head. Kudo-kai is the only one of the designated yakuza to be designated as a {{nihongo|especially dangerous designated yakuza|特定危険指定暴力団|Tokutei Kiken Shitei Bōryokudan}}, a more dangerous type of yakuza.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220901014752/https://www.nhk.or.jp/gendai/articles/4590/ 工藤会と"91人の証言者" 暴力団トップ死刑判決の内幕.] [[NHK]]. 5 October 2021</ref>