Two rival crime syndicates have agreed to halt a bloody turf feud sparked by hard economic times that has left three gangsters dead and six wounded in less than a week, evoking anxiety among Japanese, police said Friday.
Special police units, however, remained on high alert for further bloodletting apparently fueled by an anti-gang law that has forced the country's biggest crime syndicate to expand into the capital and overseas.A leader of the Tokyo-based Kyokuto-kai crime syndicate Wednesday visited the head office of its rival Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation's largest mob in the western port city of Kobe, to settle the underworld war.
A Yamaguchi-gumi chief reciprocated and confirmed the cease-fire agreement, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police said.