TOKYO — When Nagasaki's mayor was fatally shot in southern Japan, it wasn't much of a surprise that a gangster was arrested for the attack. In a country where regular citizens face strict gun laws, the mob does most of the shooting.
Iccho Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back Tuesday evening and died early Wednesday. Tetsuya Shiroo, a senior member of Japan's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, was captured at the scene and admitted to the attack, police said.
"This murder, which took place in the middle of an election campaign, is a threat to democracy," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said early Wednesday. "We must eradicate violence firmly."
The killing, reportedly linked to Shiroo's demands for city compensation for car damage caused by a pothole, focused attention on the role of the Japanese mafia, or "yakuza," in the rare shootings here.
Of the 53 gun attacks reported in 2006, two-thirds, 36, were blamed on organized crime groups, the National Police Agency says.
Handguns are strictly banned for ordinary citizens in Japan, and only police officers and others, such as shooting instructors, with job-related reasons can own them. Hunting rifles are also strictly licensed and regulated.