Iccho Itoh was the former mayor of Nagasaki. He served in that capacity from 1995 to 2007. Itoh was assassinated by a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi Japanese organized crime group in 2007.
Fast Facts:
Assassination
On April 17, 2007, Iccho Itoh was shot twice in the back after a gangster, tied with the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, was enraged that the city would not compensate him after his car was damaged at a public works site. Itoh was shot outside of a train station in Nagasaki. He was rushed to the Nagasaki University Hospital, but died in surgery. Tetsuya Shiroo, the shooter, was arrested at the scene of the crime. The shooting was a rare homicide due to the national ban on handguns. Further, Itoh was only one of five politicians to have been attacked since World War II.
