Organized Crime Japanese Style

I've blogged about them before.

But a recent article is a good indicator on just how big this organization really is:

Over the last seven years, the yakuza have moved into finance. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has an index of more than 50 listed companies with ties to organized crime. The market is so infested that Osaka Securities Exchange officials decided in March that they would review all listed companies and expel those found to have links with the yakuza.

In the end of the article, the reporter doesn't have many kind words for these people. However, (not mentioned in the article) the yakuza have also helped out the japanese people in many commendable ways. Some japanese people regard them quite highly. In the end, their relationship with the police might be a longterm repeated cooperative relationship, which other cultures might have a hard time understanding.