A kinder, gentler yakuza.

[Shockeye]

'Gentle' gangster seeks anaesthetic before the chop

Tokyo, Japan   
12 July 2005 11:11

A doctor has been arrested for applying a painkiller to help a Japanese gangster chop off a businessman's little finger, a mob rite meant to prove character by enduring pain, police said on Tuesday.

Gangster Kyoji Kakutani (49) had reportedly invested in the businessman's company and when the firm went bust demanded the 44-year-old's pinkie as per the tradition of the Japanese mob known as the yakuza.

But instead of carrying out the bloody ritual in private, Kakutani took the businessman to a clinic.

Shin Ki-Tae (50), a South Korean doctor in Tokyo, gave an anaesthetic to the businessman before Kakutani chopped off the businessman's little finger with a chisel and hammer, police said.

Shin was arrested this month on charges of abetting a criminal.

"I couldn't reject his request. If [the gangster] did it by himself, it would make a big mess at my clinic and I didn't want that to happen," the doctor said in his defence, as quoted by the police official.

Japanese gangsters commonly chop off their little fingers to atone for their betrayal or defeat in turf battles. - Sapa-AFP

[WayAbvPar]

chopped off the businessman's little finger with a chisel and hammer

From a culture that has traditionally made some of the sharpest blades in the world, and they go with a chisel. OWWIE.

[Polysorbate80]

You can get your chisel just as sharp if it isn't already.

 Certainly a little more precise than takin' a whack with a sword.

But having almost just lost a couple fingertips, this still makes me queasy...