Saburo Takeshita

Saburo Takeshita appears as a financial operator within the Goto-gumi whose reach extended across twenty front companies. The account links that business role to a record of intimidation and violence, while also naming him among yakuza reported to have received liver transplants.

Identity and Position

The book describes Takeshita as the Goto-gumi’s financial wizard, likening his elusive role in the organization to Keyser Söze. He ran twenty front companies and managed a large share of the Goto-gumi’s finances. The description makes his importance structural as well as personal: he is presented not simply as a gang member, but as a figure handling the organization’s financial machinery.

Criminal Record

In 1992, Takeshita and an accomplice were arrested by Shizuoka police for threats and assault. They had gone to collect money from a local company owner who could not pay. Takeshita threatened the man’s daughter; when the father refused to comply, Takeshita and his accomplice assaulted him so severely that he required several weeks in hospital. The episode places coercion alongside Takeshita’s financial role: collection was enforced not only through business arrangements but also through intimidation and violence.

Disclosure and Context

The book names Takeshita among three other yakuza said to have received liver transplants after Tadamasa Goto; the other two named are Yoshiro Ogino and Hisatoshi Mio. Takeshita’s name and organizational role were included in a chapter published on August 9 in Heisei Japan Taboo Compendium 2008. The chapter’s disclosure broadens the account of the transplant cases beyond Goto, while the limited details given about Takeshita leave his own medical circumstances unspecified.