On October 16, a group brawl at a western restaurant in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, attracted widespread attention in Japan.
The quasi-violent group Nu Luoquan turned from a celebration banquet into a group beating farce while cleaning up a gang that had just been released from prison.
According to Japanese police sources, nearly 100 members of Nu Luo Quan held a celebration banquet for a member released from prison after serving 12 years in prison, organized by the current 10th generation boss of Nu Luo Quan. Shortly thereafter, more than 10 members of the Nu Luo Quan from another faction entered the venue. One of them had a holiday with a person who had just been released from prison, and Boss Nu Luoquan called him to reconcile the two, but he didn't expect that as soon as they talked a few words, the two sides started to move. Beer bottles, plates, knives and forks flew around, and the scene was a mess. When they found that the clerk called the police, except for the injured, the rest of the people immediately scattered.
The early tyranny of the Urrascal Quan
Nu Luo Quan originated from the riot gangs that ran rampant in the Tokyo area in the late 80s and early 90s of the 20th century. The members of the gang are mainly second- and third-generation children of Japanese orphans. Because members of the gang were repeatedly arrested for violent injury and drug smuggling, it was classified as a "quasi-violent group" organization by the Japanese Metropolitan Police Department in 2013.
Taihei Ogawa, a reporter in the criminal case, said: "The group calls itself "Nu Luo Quan", but the police generally call them "Chinese Dragon". Although Nu Luoquan is not a gangster in the traditional sense, it is characterized by the Metropolitan Police Department as a quasi-organized crime group because of its antisocial characteristics and frequent criminal activities. However, there are currently no laws and regulations against quasi-organized crime groups, and there is no registration of such organizations, so the police are not very aware of the organization. ”
An early member of Nu Luo Quan revealed the current state of the organization:
"'ChineseDragon' is the name given by the police, and we call ourselves 'Nu Luo Quan'. We are headquartered in Kasai, Tokyo, and we have five branches in Tokyo, as well as offices in Kanagawa and Fukuoka. There used to be nearly 30 branches across Japan, but there are not so many of them anymore. There are five bosses, three of whom have been arrested. There are now about 300 members in total. Each division operates independently. The founding members are all in their 50s, but no one is retiring yet. Most of the members of the organization now are second-generation members, usually in their 40s, and the rest are third-generation members, mostly in their 20s. ”
Last August, a founder died and the organization held a funeral for him.
"Despite the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, nearly 500 people attended the funeral, including the families of previous bosses, survivors and members of Nu Luo Quan. Few funerals can gather so many people related to Nu Luo Quan, and even a few Japanese gangsters have sent flowers. ”
The photographs on the altar show the names of Wang Nan, the founders of Nu Luo Quan, and Hideo Sasaki (real name Zhang Rongxing). The former published his autobiography "Nu Luo Quan and I", and the latter is the author of the best-selling book "Nu Luo Quan The First Generation" and is now very active on the social platform YouTuber.
Wang Nan, one of the founders of Nu Luoquan
However, the group does not seem to be as united as one might think.
Mr. Hikaru Shikata, a professor at the Faculty of Law at Chuo University who is a police officer, said: "Group fights at the Sunshine City restaurant in Ikebukuro have been extremely rare even among Japanese gangsters in recent years. There are many factions within the Nuluo power, and some people believe that this conflict is caused by internal contradictions, which shows that the internal struggle of the Nuluo power is quite fierce.
Nu Luoquan has been a very crude organization since its inception. It has caused a series of shocking incidents, including the assassination of opponents in the fire of riot gangs in 1989, the beating of high school students with metal baseball bats in 2009, the slashing of opponents with a blue dragon knife in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, in 2015, and the smuggling of drugs worth 400 million yen in 2021... Over the years, the Japanese police have been having a headache for Nu Luoquan.
Probably to prevent being targeted by the Japanese police, five years ago, Nu Luoquan announced a policy of "no crime, no criminal income, and no dependence on organizations."
An early member of Nurakun said, "In Kasai, where our headquarters are located, we used to charge protection fees to restaurants and other shops, but now we don't charge them. However, not all branches follow this policy, and some consider protection fees to be a source of income and do not want to cut themselves off. But if anyone continues to do this, one day the police will let us disband. ”
"We have also been treated unfairly by the police. One of our members, whose wife was molested, went to help her relieve the siege, but instead was detained for 10 days. In the end, although the case was withdrawn, this was obviously a deliberate difficulty, and the police wanted to destroy us. ”
The investigation into the Sunshine City group brawl in Ikebukuro is still ongoing.
According to the above-mentioned early members of Nu Luo Quan, there are now many groups that also claim to be "Nu Luo Quan", and even Nu Luo Quan's own people are not sure whether it is true or false. As the investigation deepens, will the Japanese police be able to completely unveil this organization?
Reference: Japanese media "Weekly FLASH" and FNN TV