90 Brutal Facts about Mobs and Gangs

The Yakuza operate openly in Japan: they have offices, make charitable donations, and even have large investments in mainstream companies

27. The Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) have been sending debtors to work the extremely hazardous cleanup at Fukushima to pay off their gambling/drug debts. Most don't have the proper training to do the job right.

28. In 1976, a Japanese ultranationalist porn actor died after flying a plane into the house of a yakuza don to punish him for accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Lockheed & betraying the samurai code

29. Meth was invented in Japan. At first, it was used to curb hunger and energize Japanese citizens. Later It was given to Kamikaze pilots, soldiers, and wartime factory workers. It is now controlled and distributed by the Yakuza.

30. Yubitsume is the Yakuza ritual of chopping off part of one's pinky as either punishment or an apology. The reason for amputation of the little finger makes a proper grip on a samurai sword impossible, weakening him in battle and forcing the person to be more reliant on his boss for protection.

When Super Famicom (SNES) first launched in Japan, Nintendo had to ship the consoles in the middle of the night so the Yakuza didn't hijack them

32. When Eisenhower planned to visit Japan in 1960, the government called on yakuza bosses to lend tens of thousands of their men as security guards

33. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the CEO of Olympus was fired when he discovered that $1.6 billion of the company's money had been paid to the yakuza gang.

34. A young American applied for and got a job as a reporter reporting in Japanese at the biggest Japanese daily, and went on to uncover a deal between a major yakuza boss and the FBI.

35. Due to homosexuality being depicted in American Me, the Mexican Mafia retaliated by murdering three of the movie's consultants

PCC, the largest Brazilian criminal organization forced residents of Sao Paulo, the country's largest city, into a curfew that paralyzed the city after a series of attacks in May 2006.

37. Hunter S. Thomson's relationship with the Hell's Angels was primarily amiable during his research for his articles and books, but when Thomson admonished a Gang Member by stating: "Only a punk beats his wife", Thomson was severely beaten, or "stomped" as well.

38. A man named Albert Anastasia at the age of 19 killed a coworker in a fight and was sentenced to death. He won a retrial on a technicality and was freed when no witnesses reappeared. He then became one of America’s deadliest mobsters personally murdering at least 1,200 people and ordering the deaths of 10,000+.

39. Wearing a Peyton Manning #18 jersey to school in Denver gets you sent home because the numbers 13, 14, 18, 31, 41, and 81 are banned in the district due to their association with local gangs.

40. Manchester City Football Club was initially formed as an alternative to gang warfare for young Manchester youths.

Thaddeus Jimenez was jailed at 13 years old for murder, served 16 years, and awarded $25 million for wrongful incarceration when his conviction was overturned. He used that money to start a gang.

42. A baboon gang roamed around Cape Town, led by Fred the baboon, and were pursued for 3 years by police after they became notorious for raiding cars, assaulting and interfering with tourists.

43. British Prime Minister David Cameron was part of a youth gang which smashed windows of businesses in Oxford.

44. After Selena's slaying, gang members in Texas attempted to raise $500,000 for the bond set on Yolanda Saldivar, her killer, so that they could murder her once she was released.

45. The Founder of the Crips Wrote Anti-Gang and Anti-Violence Books

Scandinavia was the site of an unusually violent gang war between the Hells Angels and another outlaw biker gang in the 1990s, with gang members using stolen military weapons such as grenades and anti-tank rockets to attack each others' clubhouses and bars

47. The Yakuza has been organizing Halloween in Japan for years, however, in order to ensure the children's safety, they had to cancel it in 2015 due to a gang war.

48. While searching for drugs in NYC, Jimi Hendrix was kidnapped by "wiseguy wannabes" looking for a quick ransom. When a mobster heard about this, he quickly got them to release him by threatening to kill them. Later the mobster tracked down the kids and "gave them a beating they would never forget"

49. The "real Mafia" did not allow the producers of "The Godfather" to use the word Mafia in the movie. They even sent "family" members to the set to monitor filming. That's how producers discovered Lenny Montana aka "Luca Brasi"

50. In Japan, a few foreign cartoons including "Bob The Builder" was suggested to be edited, adding the fifth finger to the characters' hands. The reason was that having only four fingers implies membership of the Japanese Mafia.