Yoshio Kodama was a prominent figure in the rise of organized crime in Japan. The most famous 'kuromaku', or behind-the-scenes power broker, of the 20th century, he was active in Japan's political arena and criminal underworld from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Born in Nihonmatsu, Japan, Kodama lived with relatives in Japanese-occupied Korea early in his life, and during that time formed an ultranationalist group with the intent to assassinate various Japanese politicians. Wikipedia
In his prime Yoshio Kodama was considered the most powerful postwar yakuza Godfather, reputed to have influenced the Emperor and Prime Minister. metropolis.japantoday.com/BigInJapan/371/biginjapaninc.htm
Yoshio Kodama was born in 1911 and grew up in a poor family and spent most of his childhood living with relatives in Korea. gangstersinc.tripod.com/Kodama.html
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Yoshio Kodama. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshio_Kodama
