Japanese Crime Boss Trafficked Nuclear Material From Myanmar, U.S. Says
Takeshi Ebisawa, already facing federal drug trafficking charges, offered uranium and plutonium that he expected Iran to use in making nuclear weapons, prosecutors said.


By Ed Shanahan
Feb. 21, 2024, 3:02 p.m. ET
A man identified by federal prosecutors as a leader of Japan’s Yakuza organized crime syndicate was charged on Wednesday with trafficking uranium and plutonium from Myanmar with the expectation that Iran would use the material to make nuclear weapons.

The man, Takeshi Ebisawa, is accused of conspiring with a network of associates to sell the weapons-grade material and illegal narcotics and to buy surface-to-air missiles on behalf of an ethnic insurgent group in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma.

“It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of the conduct alleged in today’s indictment,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in announcing the charges.

Mr. Ebisawa, 60, is being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn after being charged, along with three co-defendants, with international drug and weapons trafficking crimes in 2022. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. A lawyer representing him in connection with that indictment did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Ed Shanahan is a rewrite reporter and editor covering breaking news and general assignments on the Metro desk. More about Ed Shanahan

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/nyregion/japan-nuclear-trafficking-yakuza.html

Wow

vendetta per Hiroshima lol

I was also wondering which syndicate he belongs even Adelstein doesn't know.


Jake Adelstein/????
@jakeadelstein
Dubious.
I don’t doubt that Mr. Ebisawa was involved in a crazy scheme and may be a criminal—but “yakuza boss”?
There is no “the yakuza”
So the question is: which group, if any did he belong to?
Inagawa-Kai? Sumiyoshi?
Anyone know?
Does the DEA?

Self-proclaimed ``Yakuza boss'', armed with a rocket launcher, intermediary for drugs... Who the hell is this man?
2022/07/27 08:53

scrap
?However, the client, whom the defendant thought was a merchant, turned out to be an undercover agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA had sensed that the defendant was planning a transaction and had set up a "sting operation."

Send weapon list to undercover police
?U.S. authorities have asked Japan and other countries for cooperation in the investigation. The defendant reportedly came into contact with the DEA in Tokyo around June 2019 and offered to make a deal, saying, ``A group fighting the Myanmar government is looking for weapons. They can supply them with as much stimulant and heroin as they need.''

?Negotiations then continued in Thailand and Indonesia. In February 2021, the DEA brought "sample" machine guns and automatic rifles to a warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, and showed them to the defendant. The photo of him holding a rocket launcher is said to have been taken at this warehouse.

?In May of the same year, the defendant sent an undercover investigator a list of weapons on social media, saying he would provide them to the Shan State Army, a rebel group in Myanmar. It listed a total of 10,000 machine guns and automatic rifles, and more than 4,000 surface-to-air missiles.

?During the same year, he sold drug samples to undercover investigators at hotels in Thailand and other locations, and received approximately $15,000 in brokerage fees for smuggling approximately 100 kilograms of drugs from Mexico to a third country via Japan. That's what it means.

The fact that he was a member was not confirmed.
?In April of this year, when U.S. authorities announced the arrest of the defendant, the details of the case were so grand that there were rumors in Japan that he was a leader of a regional organized crime group. However, according to police authorities, it has not been confirmed that the defendant was a member of a gang.

?According to acquaintances, the man arrested was Tsuyoshi Ebisawa, a native of Tochigi Prefecture. After dropping out of a local high school, he was self-employed and worked at his parents' home, but in recent years he has been living between Japan and Thailand. A female relative of his said in an interview that she had heard that he was working in agriculture overseas.

?According to a male acquaintance, the defendant called himself a ``yakuza boss'' in Thailand. This appears to have led to the announcement by US authorities. He reportedly told the man that he was looking for weapons at the request of the Shan State Army, which is consistent with the charges.

?In the United States, crimes such as conspiracy to traffic in weapons and drugs carry a statutory penalty of 10 years or more in prison. The defendant is being held in a facility ahead of his trial.

?Just before his arrest, the defendant reportedly told people around him, ``I have a big job in the United States that will bring in billions of dollars.If I succeed, I will retire and live in Thailand until I die.'' A male acquaintance said, ``He must have been excited because he thought the transaction would be successful.''

Here's the official federal indictment filed against Yakuza boss Takeshi Ebisawa...


Takeshi Ebisawa of Japan, Leader Within the Yakuza Transnational Organized Crime Syndicate, Allegedly Trafficked Nuclear Materials, Including Uranium and Weapons-Grade Plutonium
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Matthew G. Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division; and Anne Milgram, the Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), announced the issuance today of a Superseding Indictment charging TAKESHI EBISAWA with conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials from Burma to other countries.  In the course of this conspiracy, EBISAWA and his confederates showed samples of nuclear materials in Thailand to a DEA undercover agent (“UC-1”), who was posing as a narcotics and weapons trafficker.  With the assistance of Thai authorities, the nuclear samples were seized and subsequently transferred to the custody of U.S. law enforcement.  A U.S. nuclear forensic laboratory later analyzed the samples and confirmed that the samples contain uranium and weapons-grade plutonium.    
EBISAWA and co-defendant SOMPHOP SINGHASIRI were previously charged in April 2022 with international narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses, and both have been ordered detained.  EBISAWA and SINGHASIRI will be arraigned on the Superseding Indictment before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon tomorrow at noon.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of the conduct alleged in today’s Indictment.  As alleged, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly trafficked material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Burma to other countries.  He allegedly did so while believing that the material was going to be used in the development of a nuclear weapons program, and the weapons-grade plutonium he trafficked, if produced in sufficient quantities, could have been used for that purpose.  Even as he allegedly attempted to sell nuclear materials, Ebisawa also negotiated for the purchase of deadly weapons, including surface-to-air missiles.   I want to thank the career prosecutors of my Office and our law enforcement partners for their unwavering commitment to protecting our national security by ensuring that the defendant will now face justice in an American court.”      
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said: “The defendant stands accused of conspiring to sell weapons grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Burma, and to purchase military weaponry on behalf of an armed insurgent group.  It is chilling to imagine the consequences had these efforts succeeded, and the Justice Department will hold accountable those who traffic in these materials and threaten U.S. national security and international stability.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said: “As alleged, the defendants in this case trafficked in drugs, weapons, and nuclear material — going so far as to offer uranium and weapons-grade plutonium fully expecting that Iran would use it for nuclear weapons.  This is an extraordinary example of the depravity of drug traffickers who operate with total disregard for human life.  I commend the men and women of DEA and this prosecution team for their tireless work to protect us from such evil.”
According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment, which was unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]
Beginning in early 2020, EBISAWA informed UC-1 and a DEA confidential source (“CS-1”) that EBISAWA had access to a large quantity of nuclear materials that he wanted to sell.  Later that year, EBISAWA sent UC-1 a series of photographs depicting rocky substances with Geiger counters measuring radiation, as well as pages of what EBISAWA represented to be lab analyses indicating the presence of thorium and uranium in the depicted substances.  In response to EBISAWA’s repeated inquiries, UC-1 agreed, as part of the DEA’s investigation, to help EBISAWA broker the sale of his nuclear materials to UC-1’s associate, who was posing as an Iranian general (the “General”), for use in a nuclear weapons program.  EBISAWA then offered to supply the General with “plutonium” that would be even “better” and more “powerful” than uranium for this purpose.  Examples of the photographs sent by EBISAWA are shown below:

During their discussions regarding EBISAWA’s access to nuclear materials, EBISAWA also engaged with UC-1 concerning EBISAWA’s desire to purchase military-grade weapons.  To that end, in May 2021, EBISAWA sent UC-1 a list of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, that EBISAWA wished to purchase from UC-1 on behalf of the leader of an ethnic insurgent group in Burma (“CC-1”).  Together with two other co-conspirators (“CC-2” and “CC-3”), EBISAWA proposed to UC-1 that CC-1 sell uranium to the General, through EBISAWA, to fund CC-1’s weapons purchase.  On a February 4, 2022 videoconference, CC-2 told UC-1 that CC-1 had available more than 2,000 kilograms of Thorium-232 and more than 100 kilograms of uranium in the compound U3O8 — referring to a compound of uranium commonly found in the uranium concentrate powder known as “yellowcake” — and that CC-1 could produce as much as five tons of nuclear materials in Burma.  CC-2 also advised that CC-1 had provided samples of the uranium and thorium, which CC-2 was prepared to show to UC-1’s purported buyers.  CC-2 noted that the samples should be packed “to contain . . . the radiation.” 
About one week later, EBISAWA, CC-2, and CC-3 participated in a series of meetings with UC-1 and CS-1 in Southeast Asia, to discuss their ongoing weapons, narcotics, and nuclear materials transactions.  During one of these meetings, CC-2 asked UC-1 to meet in CC-2’s hotel room.  Inside the room, CC-2 showed UC-1 two plastic containers each holding a powdery yellow substance (the “Nuclear Samples”), which CC-2 described as “yellowcake.”  CC-2 advised that one container held a sample of uranium in the compound U3O8, and the other container held Thorium-232.  UC-1 photographed and video-recorded the Nuclear Samples, images of which are shown below:

With the assistance of Thai authorities, the Nuclear Samples were seized and subsequently transferred to the custody of U.S. law enforcement authorities.  A U.S. nuclear forensic laboratory examined the Nuclear Samples and determined that both samples contain detectable quantities of uranium, thorium, and plutonium.  In particular, the laboratory determined that the isotope composition of the plutonium found in the Nuclear Samples is weapons-grade, meaning that the plutonium, if produced in sufficient quantities, would be suitable for use in a nuclear weapon. 
*                *                *
A table containing the charges and minimum and maximum penalties for EBISAWA, 60, of Japan, and SINGHASIRI, 61, of Thailand, is set forth below.  The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by Judge McMahon.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding efforts of the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit.  Mr. Williams also thanked the DEA Tokyo Country Office, DEA Bangkok Country Office, DEA Chiang Mai Resident Office, DEA Jakarta Country Office, DEA Copenhagen Country Office, DEA New York Field Office, DEA New Delhi Country Office, the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, the Office of International Affairs of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, and our law enforcement partners in Indonesia, Japan, and the Kingdom of Thailand for their assistance.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (“OCDETF”) operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Li, Kaylan E. Lasky, and Kevin T. Sullivan are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Dmitriy Slavin of the Counterterrorism Section.
The charges contained in the Superseding Indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
COUNT DEFENDANT(S) MIN. AND MAX. PRISON TERM
Count One: Conspiracy to commit international trafficking of nuclear materials EBISAWA Maximum of 10 years in prison
Count Two: International trafficking of nuclear materials EBISAWA Maximum of 20 years in prison
Count Three: Narcotics importation conspiracy EBISAWA and SINGHASIRI Mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison; maximum of life in prison
Count Four: Conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices SINGHASIRI Maximum of life in prison
Count Five: Conspiracy to acquire, transfer, and possess surface-to-air missiles EBISAWA Mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison; maximum of life in prison
Count Six: Narcotics importation conspiracy EBISAWA Mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison; maximum of life in prison
Count Seven: Conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices EBISAWA Maximum of life in prison
Count Eight: Money laundering EBISAWA Maximum of 20 years in prison
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Superseding Indictment and the description of the Superseding Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

Thanks Hollander.

We rarely hear about the Yakuza.

It's interesting he travels all over the place Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Denmark, NYC.

Nuclear-armed gangster:
Yakuza expert: - Looks really ugly
Journalist Jake Adelstein has covered Japan's underworld for 30 years. He is surprised that the US Department of Justice even calls Takeshi Ebisawa a yakuza .

ROCKET THROWER IN COPENHAGEN: - He may be a low-ranking yakuza, or a former yakuza. But to think that this guy is a big yakuza boss is probably completely wrong, says Jake Adelstein (tv) about Takeshi Ebisawa (th) Photo: US Magistrate Judge / Reuters and Chelsea Sakura Bailey / Privat

Håkon Kvam Lyngstad
Published 23/02/2024 22:26
This is the case:

Takeshi Ebisawa is accused of having smuggled radioactive material through Myanmar, and of planning to sell it to Iran.
Ebisawa is also suspected of being a leader in the Japanese mafia, the so-called yakuza, but it is uncertain who he works for in that case.
Yakuza engage in shady activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling, extortion and illegal lending.
In 2013, there were as many as 80,000 members of various Yakuza organizations in Japan. In 2022, the figure was estimated to be down to around 24,000.
The summary is generated by Labrador AI, but read through by a journalist.

- He looks like an idiot, says journalist and author Jake Adelstein to TV 2.

The man he is talking about is Takeshi Ebisawa, who the US believes is a leader in the Japanese mafia.

JOURNALIST: Jake Adelstein, who among other things has published the books "Tokyo Vice" and "The Last Yakuza". Photo: Private

Ebisawa is accused, among other things, of having smuggled radioactive material through Myanmar, and of having planned to sell it to Iran. He has also been photographed in Denmark, where he posed with a rocket launcher.

BACKGROUND: Alleged to have smuggled plutonium - here he is in Copenhagen

But Adelstein doubts whether Ebisawa is part of any yakuza group at all.

- If he were to be a yakuza boss, we are unable to identify which group he is connected to. Ebisawa was arrested two years ago. Every single organization would ban him. They would send a fax to the police and establish that he was no longer part of their organisation, says Adelstein further.

Adelstein was the first non-Japanese journalist to get a job in a Japanese newspaper, when in 1993 he was employed by the daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. He has since covered the Japanese underworld. His memoir, "Tokyo Vice", has been made into a TV series under the same title on HBO.

This is the yakuza - Japan's mafia:
• Criminal Japanese organisations, which probably have roots in illegal activities in the country as early as the 17th century.

• The organizations are organized strictly hierarchically in clans. There are 24 registered yakuza organizations in Japan, with around 24,000 members.

• The mafia engages in activities such as gambling, drugs, prostitution, extortion and money laundering. But they often also run legitimate businesses in combination with the criminal, for example property development or in the construction industry.

• The Yakuza are known for their use of symbols: intricate tattoos, traditional ceremonies and symbols attached to the collar of their suits. These elements are often included in representations in popular culture.

• From ancient times, the yakuza have been seen as a kind of necessary evil in Japanese society. In recent times, they have faced stricter tones, and new laws have tightened up the mafia's room for action.

• The three largest clans are Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai.

Source: "Contemporary Japan" by Jeff Kingston; Large Norwegian encyclopedia.

TV 2 has contacted Takeshi Ebisawa's lawyer, but has so far not received a reply.

- It looks very ugly
The yakuza, in which Adelstein has become an expert throughout his career, runs shady activities such as drug dealing, prostitution, gambling, extortion and illegal lending.

But they describe themselves as humanitarian organisations, and are concerned that they "maintain Japanese values".

Leaders of Japan's largest yakuza clan, the Yamaguchi-gumi, arrive at the funeral of the clan's godfather Masahisa Takenaka. He was killed in Osaka in 1985 - which started a major gang war in which more than 20 were killed. Photo: AP Photo/Asahi Shimbun)
Leaders of Japan's largest yakuza clan, the Yamaguchi-gumi, arrive at the funeral of the clan's godfather Masahisa Takenaka. He was killed in Osaka in 1985 - which started a major gang war in which more than 20 were killed. Photo: AP Photo/Asahi Shimbun)
- The days when the yakuza could operate openly and brazenly are numbered, writes researcher Jeff Kingston in his book "Contemporary Japan".

- They can no longer know that the police tolerate them, and that the public buys the myth of the chivalrous spirit of the yakuza, he writes further.

But maintaining the outward facade is still important to the Japanese mafia.

- So it looks very ugly to them if a guy like this is taken, and belongs to them, says Adelstein, about Ebisawa.

The American journalist, who still lives and works in Japan, says he inquired with several acquaintances who are still part of the world of the yakuza, as well as with police he knows.

TRADITIONAL: By drinking from a cup of sake, and swearing allegiance to the sun goddess Amaterasu, the man on the left in the picture was to become the new deputy leader of the Kokusui-kai clan. AP's journalist thought it resembled a religious ceremony. Photo: ERIC TALMADGE / AP
TRADITIONAL: By drinking from a cup of sake, and swearing allegiance to the sun goddess Amaterasu, the man on the left in the picture was to become the new deputy leader of the Kokusui-kai clan. AP's journalist thought it resembled a religious ceremony. Photo: ERIC TALMADGE / AP
None of them know that Ebisawa has been part of any of the 20 registered yakuza organizations in Japan.

He has also asked the Department of Justice in the United States if they could confirm whether they were sure he belonged to the yakuza, and if so which. The ministry would not assist with that.

- But they should name the organisation, if they know it. Rival groups would give them information. It serves them to see a rival go under, Adelstein believes.

New laws: - That is what crushes them
In 2013, there were as many as 80,000 members of various yakuza organizations in Japan. In 2022, the figure was estimated to be down to around 24,000.

The only group that grew in traffic on the statistics was the country's largest clan: the Yamaguchi-gumi. Given the large dropout, it may be that Ebisawa in particular also has a past from one of these clans:

- Many are left without their livelihood. Maybe they are drawn to the only thing they know, says Adelstein.

RAZZIA: Satoru Nomura is the head of Kudo-kai. Here, the police searched one of the clan's offices in the city of Kitakyushu in southern Japan in April 2010. Photo: Kyodo/via Reuters
RAZZIA: Satoru Nomura is the head of Kudo-kai. Here, the police searched one of the clan's offices in the city of Kitakyushu in southern Japan in April 2010. Photo: Kyodo/via Reuters

Over the past two decades, the Japanese authorities have introduced a number of new laws. Now gang leaders can be sued for the actions of subordinates. It has become illegal to do business with yakuza members. Members also have major problems with taking out telephone subscriptions, leases and opening bank accounts.

Before, local businesses were forced to pay protection money to the yakuza. Now they become criminals themselves if they do that, explains Adelstein.

- That's what crushes them: new laws, he says.

- Being a yakuza is such a gloomy profession, not unlike journalism. If you are a yakuza, your life expectancy is 54 years. I am 54 now. We fade away together, he continues jokingly.

MAJOR ACTION: The police take action against the Yamaken-gumi in Kobe west of Osaka in September 2015. The clan is part of the larger Yamaguchi-gumi. Photo: JAPAN OUT AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS

Similar to Hawaii case
The case of Ebisawa appears unique in many ways. Nevertheless, Adelstein highlights a case from 1985, where two Japanese yakuza members were arrested in Hawaii for having bought large quantities of weapons - including a bazooka.

"Federal agents who arrested the alleged leader of Japan's biggest crime ring and two others say they planned to kill a rival with a rocket, tried to smuggle weapons and trafficked $56 million in drugs," UPI wrote about the case in September 1985.

- But one of them went free, because his lawyer was smart enough to question what it means when you say "hai" in Japanese ("ja", jou.anm.), says Adelstein. The lawyer convinced the court that it could only mean that he wanted to show that he listened to what was said.

- So there have been several cases where yakuza have tried to obtain weapons from abroad.

https://www.tv2.no/nyheter/utenriks/yakuza-ekspert-ser-virkelig-stygt-ut/16486275/