Yakuza

Yakuza (Japanese: ヤクザ), also known as gokudō (極道, "the extreme path"), are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan (暴力団, "violent groups"), while the Yakuza call themselves ninkyō dantai (任侠団体/仁侠団体, "chivalrous organizations"). The Western equivalent for the term Yakuza would be gangster, meaning an individual involved in a Mafia-like criminal organization.