Masaru Takumi (宅見 勝 Takumi Masaru; June 22, 1936 – August 28, 1997) 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 gang, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Known as "the man who never sleeps," he also headed his own sub-organization, the 1000-member Takumi-gumi.
He was considered a likely successor to the Yamaguchi-gumi's fifth godfather, Yoshinori Watanabe,[1] but in August 1997, Takumi was shot and killed in a coffee shop on the fourth floor of the Oriental Hotel in Kobe by members of a breakaway Yamaguchi affiliate, the Nakano-kai[2]. 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.[3] The Takumi-gumi's head position was succeeded by Tadashi Irie.[4]
His wife was the sister of Hideki Saijo[5][6], a Japanese singer and television celebrity most famous for singing the Japanese version of the Village People's hit song Y.M.C.A.,[7] called Young Man.
| Preceded by (none) |
Kumicho of Takumi-gumi 1967-1997 |
Succeeded by Tadashi Irie |