Yakuza Leader Gets 20-Year Sentence for Nuclear Trafficking

A federal judge in New York sentenced Takeshi Ebisawa, a 61-year-old leader in Japan's Yakuza organized crime syndicate, to 20 years in prison on March 4, 2025, for his role in a conspiracy to traffic nuclear materials, narcotics, weapons and engage in money laundering. The ruling came in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, following Ebisawa's guilty plea to six charges stemming from a multiyear undercover investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Prosecutors detailed how Ebisawa, operating from an international network spanning Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries, sought to sell weapons-grade nuclear materials, including uranium and plutonium, to an undercover buyer posing as an Iranian general overseeing that nation's nuclear program. The operation, which began in 2019 and led to Ebisawa's arrest in Manhattan in April 2022, uncovered his efforts to exchange these materials for military-grade weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles and AK-47 rifles, intended for ethnic insurgent groups in Myanmar.

According to court documents, Ebisawa first approached an undercover DEA agent in early 2020, claiming access to substantial...