User:Cherrymanju/sandbox

The 'history of the Yakuza in Hawaii goes back to at least the 1970s, when local police in Honolulu first confirmed Yakuza activity. At that time circumstances in Hawaii and its location in the Pacific Ocean allowed organized crime to take root. By that time, nearly 1/4 of Hawaii's residents were ethnic Japanese. They began by running prostitution and gambling operations catering to travelling Japanese people butby the late 1980s were expanding into property speculation, money laundering and even stock market investments.

In 1985, Masashi Takenaka, head of the Yamaguchi-gumi (based in Osaka) was arrested in Honolulu on drug charges. Takenaka was the younger brother of Masahisa Takenaka, who had been murdered in Japan earlier that year. Two other suspects were arrested with him. Investigations continued in 1986, with a Las Vegas drug operation linked with six murders and described by police as having "ties to members of the Yakuza in Hawaii", using Hawaii as a base to smuggle cocaine and methamphetamine from Honolulu to Las Vegas.