February 23, 2012, the United States imposes sanctions against the Yamaguchi-gumi.

The U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets held in the United States by the organized crime family. The U.S. has also banned the Yamaguchi-gumi from doing anymore business in the United States.

While this sounds good, it should raise the question: “How long has the U.S. knowingly done business with the Japanese Yakuza?” And I wounder if freezing their assets is just a tricky way to raise cash for a broke U.S. government?  The Obama administration estimates they have billions in their U.S. accounts!