U.S. administration starts new push on criminal cartels, including yakuza

[AsahinaKimi]

WASHINGTON —

The Obama administration announced a broadside of harsh new sanctions against four far-flung criminal cartels on Monday, part of what it said is a coordinated strategy to fight international underworld factions that could harm U.S. interests or security.

A new executive order signed by President Barack Obama outlined a regime of harsh sanctions against so-called transnational criminal groups, blocking any American property interests and freezing their assets, authorizing financial sanctions against anyone aiding them and barring their members from entering the United States.

The order, signed Sunday, authorizes new sanctions against criminal cartels in Mexico, Japan, Italy and Eastern Europe: Los Zetas, a Mexican drug ring linked to multiple murders; the yakuza, Japan’s widespread mob army; the Camorra, a crime network based in southern Italy; and the Brothers’ Circle, an Eastern European criminal group operating worldwide.

The new moves come as the administration is animating a long-scattered effort to confront global crime groups suspected of transporting drugs and weapons and enabling terrorist groups. While the U.S. war against terrorist networks has been a clear foreign policy priority since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks against the United States, its handling of “transnational” crime groups has been uneven at times and fragmented among federal agencies.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/u-s-administration-starts-new-push-on-criminal-cartels-including-yakuza

**love that photo..it reminds me of every Yakuza movie I ever saw! Where is SONNY CHIBA???