Sweeping changes the government is proposing to the Anti-Organized Crime Law will go after yakuza gang bosses and outlaw practices that encourage crime, according to a Cabinet decision.

Under the fourth set of major revisions the law targeting the yakuza has undergone since it was enacted in 1992, gang bosses will be made liable to be sued for any protection money their underlings have strong-armed out of businesses or individuals.

And the traditional yakuza practice of lauding hitmen and lavishing them with cash upon their release from prison will also be outlawed.

Authorities are hoping to weaken the power of organized crime by eating away at its finances.

The National Police Agency, which wrote up the proposed changes to the law, aims to target the finances of gang leaders. They will allow gang leaders to be held criminally responsible for not preventing any illegal activity carried out by their underlings.

It is common for yakuza gangs to mark a hitman's release from prison with a ceremony called a shussho iwai (celebration for leaving prison), where the former prisoner is hailed by colleagues and presented with cash gifts. The revised law will ban the practice because police say it encourages crimes.

Yakuza members convicted of crimes will also be banned from receiving any special payouts and forbidden from promotion within their gang's hierarchy for the first five years after they have been released from prison.

Yakuza will also be banned from harassing anybody who sues an organized crime organization for compensation. The ban also extends to plaintiffs' relatives and associates. The changes will incorporate the Criminal Code's intimidation and extortion clauses that have been used to control the yakuza so far, as well as the law that bans violence against public officials in connection with bidding on public works projects.

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