The Yakuza

The history of the Yakuza is one clouded in a little mystery. You have the story the Yakuza promotes, that they were the collection of peoples who banded together to defend the helpless from the terrors of the Shogun and his Samurai. Then there's the more likely version, they were a group of merchants, hustlers, thieves, and racketeers who adopted a code of honor and started to branch out into more lucrative ventures, both legal and illegal.  They adopted a family structure with all power held by the Oyabun, the boss, and everyone else at varying levels depending on how long they've been in the life. The Yakuza have had their hands much deeper into business and politics than the Italian Mob and even stole their style to boot. The rituals, the tattoos, the missing fingers, we'll cover it all and then some.