Masaru Takumi was a powerful Japanese organized crime figure assassinated in 1997. Until his death, he was the second-in-command (wakagashira) and financial overseer of Japan's largest yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

 gang, the Yamaguchi-gumi

Yamaguchi-gumi

is Japan's largest and most infamous yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe pre-WWII....

. Known as "the man who never sleeps," he also headed his own sub-organization, the 1000-member Takumi-gumi

Takumi-gumi

The Second Takumi-gumi is a Japanese yakuza gang affiliated with the powerful Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate.The Kansai-based gang was founded in 1967 by Masaru Takumi, the longtime second-in-command and financial overseer of the Yamaguchi-gumi....

.

He was considered a likely successor to the Yamaguchi-gumi's fifth godfather, Yoshinori Watanabe

Yoshinori Watanabe

was a yakuza, the fifth kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization. He became kumicho in 1989. He was known for a more low-key approach than his predecessors, partly due to an Anti-Gang law passed in 1992...

, but in August 1997, Takumi was shot and killed in a coffee shop on the fourth floor of the Oriental Hotel in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

 by members of a breakaway Yamaguchi affiliate, the Nakano-kai

Nakano-kai

The Nakano-kai was a notorious Osaka-based yakuza gang, founded by Taro Nakano in the years after World War 2. The Nakano-kai was known for its fierce bellicosity and thus sometimes dubbed the "Dojin-kai in the Yamaguchi-gumi".Before 1997, the Nakano-kai had been an affiliate of the Kobe-based...

. An innocent bystander was killed by a stray bullet in the attack, which led to the downfall of the Nakano-kai.

His last position at the Yamaguchi-gumi was as wakagashira (the number-two), and after his death, the wakagashira post became vacant and had been vacant until 2005 when it was succeeded by Kiyoshi Takayama

Kiyoshi Takayama

is a yakuza, the founding head of the Nagoya-based Takayama-gumi, the president of the 2nd Kodo-kai, and the number-two boss of the 6th Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan....

. The Takumi-gumi's head position was succeeded by Tadashi Irie

Tadashi Irie

is a yakuza, the head of the Osaka-based 2nd Takumi-gumi and the grand general manager of the 6th Yamaguchi-gumi. He is regarded as the number-three leader of the 6th Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate....

.

His wife was the sister of Hideki Saijo

Hideki Saijo

is a Japanese singer and television celebrity most famous for singing the Japanese version of the Village People's hit song Y.M.C.A., called Young Man. Although the original version was camp, Saijō's version was intended to seriously inspire "young men"....

, a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese singer and television celebrity most famous for singing the Japanese version of the Village People

Village People

Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....

's hit song Y.M.C.A., called Young Man.