Old Man Playing Checkers In The Park Goes Viral For His Cool Tattoos - Turns Out He's A Yakuza Boss Who Has Been In Hiding For 15 Years
BBC - Thai police have arrested a Japanese yakuza boss on the run for 15 years after pictures of his tattoos went viral on Facebook.
Shigeharu Shirai is accused of murdering a gang rival in 2003.
The photographs of the 74-year old fugitive’s elaborate yakuza tattoos were taken by a local person in Thailand unaware of his identity.
The mafia-like yakuza gangs have been part of Japanese society for centuries and have an estimated 60,000 members.
The Facebook pictures show an old and frail-looking man with his entire back and most of his chest covered in tattoos. He is seen playing a board game with other retirees by the side of the road.
Pictures also show that he is missing part of his little finger, often a self-administered punishment for members of Japan’s yakuza gangs to atone for mistakes.
Listen I’m not a criminal mastermind and I don’t claim to be, nor would I never speak poorly of the intelligence of the Yakuza. Or any super-gang for that matter. I love gangs. If I was more of a badass I’d love to be in a gang. But with my life path it just wasn’t meant to be so here I am blogging about gangs instead. I would just point out a little, teeny tiny flaw I noticed in Shigeharu Shirai’s strategy of hiding from the police. The goal there is to lay low and stay under the radar, change your appearance a little bit, assume a quiet life. A life of playing checkers in the park for example. Well done on that part! Where the issues arise is the “taking off the shirt” part. I get it, it gets hot, you want to let the tits out for a little to breathe. But if you have any sort of distinguishing characteristics or features on your body, you gotta try and resist the urge. A birthmark, a scar, a disfigurement…
A massive, body length canvas of full color Yazuka gang tattoos.
That’s where he slipped up. And I’m sure he’s kicking himself too. Self inflicted wounds always cut the deepest.