- Ichiwa-kai
The Ichiwa-kai (一和会) was a
yakuza gang based inOsaka ,Japan .It was formed on
June 13 ,1984 when Hiroshi Yamamoto, a top lieutenant in theYamaguchi-gumi , broke from that gang to form his own organization with over 10,000 members. The split stemmed from professional jealousy: Yamamoto had been seen as a contender for the role of "kumicho", or Godfather, in the Yamaguchi-gumi, and was enraged when a rival,Masahisa Takenaka , was chosen.In
1985 , the Ichiwa-kai faction sent a team of hitmen to assassinate Takenaka at his mistress's home inSuita , Osaka. The killing of the Yamaguchi Godfather sparked aKansai -wide yakuza war between the two groups in which over 20 gangsters were killed. The Yamaguchi-gumi eventually won what became known as theYama-Ichi War , but it proved to be aPyrrhic victory as many of its members were arrested in the process.Most of the Ichiwa-kai defectors were eventually allowed to return to the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Yamamoto retired, and the Ichiwa-kai dissolved in March,
1989 .
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