300 million yen case

Author: (Japan) Ito Fumiyoshi, translated by Seiriyo
Translator: Seiriyo / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-08-01
Features: According to the search report, Yamamoto Masashi described the situation at the time as follows: "The Crown car initially seemed to want to turn left at the T-junction, but my car was coming from the left and blocked its path. Therefore, the Crown car immediately backed up quickly and then turned right, driving away toward Kokubunji Avenue. The driver was a tall, thin-faced man with long hair, in his early twenties, and male. I remember he was wearing dark clothes. After the car reached Kokubunji Avenue, it either turned left or went straight through—I can't remember exactly." Yamamoto Tadashi's testimony was basically the same, but there was one difference. He said the Crown car, after reaching Kokubunji Avenue, turned right and drove toward the Koshu Highway. About one hundred meters east of the T-junction where the Yamamoto father and son witnessed the criminal, a man delivering milk also saw the speeding Crown car. However, he didn’t see clearly how the car moved after reaching Kokubunji Avenue. By the way, the man’s sighting time was around 9:32 AM, and at that moment, the police had not yet issued an emergency order. Therefore, the initial slow search had already become a certainty. Currently, we cannot determine which of the testimonies of the Yamamoto father and son is correct. However, if the criminal had turned right at Kokubunji Avenue at that time, it would have had to pass through the scene already covered with police. Therefore, it is more likely that the criminal either turned left or continued straight through Kokubunji Avenue. The Special Search Division also held the same opinion and was particularly interested in where the criminal was heading. Even some senior detectives in charge of the investigation believed that the criminal’s destination was the Honmachi Residential Area in Koganei City. The Honmachi Residential Area in Koganei City mentioned here is the fourth scene where an empty aluminum money box was later found, and I will explain this in detail later. However, I would like to raise a major question here. This question is related to the testimonies of the Yamamoto father and son. When describing the moment when their car almost collided with the criminal’s car, the Yamamoto father and son said: "I can’t remember the exact time, but I only remember it had just rained and then the rain got heavier." Based on this testimony, the Special Search Division investigated the meteorological data of the Tokyo Metropolitan Meteorological Observatory on the day of the incident. The weather record for that day was as follows: "On December 10, 1968, up to 11:00 AM, the rainfall reached about 25 millimeters, with the peak at 9:32 AM when thunder occurred." Based on this, the Special Search Division concluded that the time the Yamamoto father and son mentioned was 9:32 AM. However, if we analyze the extensive meteorological data from the Tokyo Air Force Station Meteorological Observatory, U.S. Air Force Yokota Base, and Tsubu Airport, we can find that the thunder started around 9:26 AM on the day of the incident, and the rainfall gradually increased thereafter. This suggests that the Yamamoto father and son may have heard the thunder around 9:26 or 9:27 AM. Therefore, the time when the two cars almost collided was likely around that time. The three housewives were splashed with mud by the armored car at 9:25 AM, and they called 110 to report the crime four minutes later at 9:29 AM. If the Yamamoto father and son saw the Crown car around the time Ied, 9:26 AM, then the criminal would have had to move three heavy aluminum money boxes from the armored car to the deep blue Crown car within about one minute and then drive nearly a kilometer. This is impossible in reality. I believe a more reasonable explanation is that two or more criminals were driving the armored car and the deep blue Crown car almost simultaneously. To make the smokestack look more like a bomb that had been installed in the car, the criminals used the following method: They first disassembled two magnetic, removed the magnets, and placed them between two iron plates, then tied them to the smokestack with No. 8 copper wire. This way, the smokestack could stick to the car’s chassis. However, on the day of the incident, since it was raining, the chassis of the car was covered with mud, so the smokestack did not stick firmly and fell onto the road. The following is the investigation result of the smokestack: The smokestack was produced in August 1968, model "hiflare5," manufactured by the Hatakeyama Factory of the Japanese Explosives Company in Fushangacho, Hatakeyama-ku, Yokohama City. A total of 4,190 were produced. In Tokyo City, the distribution was as follows: Approximately 2,000 were sold by a firearms store in Chuo-ku, Nihonbashi, to various auto parts stores and gas stations at a price of 600 yen per piece. Meanwhile, the regulation requiring the installation of smokestacks on motor vehicles was not implemented until March 1969, the year after the incident. Therefore, the number of smokestacks on the market before the incident was much smaller than it is now. The criminals would have had to go to a specialized store to buy one. However, since these specialized stores did not have customer lists, the tracking investigation immediately stalled. The magnets attached to the smokestack were taken from the M80-type magnetic produced by the Ota Manufacturing Company in Tsukishima. This product was mainly used for opening and closing doors. The initial manufacturers of this type of magnet were the Sun Magnetic Company in Tokyo’s Itabashi and the Tokyo Felite Machinery Manufacturing Company in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture. The main distributor was the Ota Manufacturing Company in Tokyo’s Koto-ku. Based on the wear on the mold surface of the magnets, their production time should have been after February 2, 1968, with a batch of approximately 43,240 produced. This batch of magnetic was mainly distributed by eight wholesalers in Tokyo and Osaka to various companies. According to the investigation, some of the buyers for Tokyo were unknown: 106 were supplied by the Shizuwa Hardware Tokyo Branch in Taito-ku, Ushigaya, to the Shinjuku Isetan Department Store; 124 were supplied by the same store to the Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store; and 460 of the 960 magnetic directly purchased from the Ota Manufacturing Company by hardware stores in Tokyo were also unknown buyers. The total number of unknown buyers for these magnetic was 690. These were sold at 100 yen each and were already sold out. Even so, through their efforts, the police managed to narrow the scope of the investigation to 1.5% of the total number of magnetic. Additionally, the stainless steel towel rack mentioned earlier was displayed on the same shelf as the magnetic at Isetan and Seibu Department Stores. The number of units sold were 134 at Isetan and 192 at Seibu. After learning this, the detectives of the Special Search Division were initially very enthusiastic. However, further investigations did not yield significant results. A major breakthrough in the investigation was that the paper wrapped around the smokestack and the lead letters cut by the criminal in the extortion letter received by the Japan Trust were determined to be from the same issue of "Radio Science." The police concluded that these two cases were committed by the same criminal. However, the investigation of the regular readers of this issue of "Radio Science" and the other magazine, "Modern Film," used by the criminal to cut the lead letters, proved to be more difficult than expected. Although they were regular readers, magazines were different from goods like rice or alcohol. Only a small portion of readers had their magazines delivered to a fixed store each month, while most readers still bought the magazines at whichever store they happened to see. Therefore, it was difficult to determine the list of regular readers. The July 1968 issue of "Radio Science" (B5 size, 222 pages) was published by the Japan Broadcasting Publishing Association on June 15, 1968, at a price of 220 yen per copy, with a total of 18,030 copies printed. Of these, 12,525 were sold, with 11,725 sold retail. This magazine had two distribution channels: direct sales and sales through intermediaries such as Toei Shōten and Nippon Shōten, which were thirteen in total. Additionally, 570 copies were free of charge to 108 related sponsors through ten advertising agencies. The Special Search Division decided to first investigate the units that received the free magazines. After the investigation, 12 of the 17 magazines distributed to eight units in the Tama region were found. Then, the investigation of retail sales was temporarily suspended, and the focus shifted to the regular subscribers in the Tama region. Officers visited each of these individuals to confirm the condition of their magazines. Let’s return to the testimony of "K·S." Next to "Tatsumi," there was a figure revered by him and "Shoku" as the "boss." This person was around thirty years old, over 170 cm tall, and physically strong. It is said that he played the role of a "strategist" for "Tatsumi" and the surrounding delinquents. "K·S" described the "boss" as follows: "He was indeed the so-called 'boss,' with a sharp mind and a very calm and composed personality. He was the kind of person who could lead." It is said that the "boss" once desperately asked "Tatsumi’s" father, "Mac," to help him with something in early 1968. This information was obtained from a U.S. military personnel who had a close relationship with "Mac." It is said that the "boss" asked "Mac" as follows: "I have a very large and very important piece of luggage. I want to store it at U.S. Yokota Base or Tachikawa Base for a week, and I want you to keep it strictly for me." The "boss" was willing to pay "Mac" a large sum of money in return, but "Mac" was not allowed to ask about the contents of the luggage or the reason for the request. However, "Mac" seemed to sense the danger at that time and was very curious about what was in the luggage. He asked the "boss" about it many times, but the "boss" did not reveal a single detail. As a result, "Mac" refused the "boss’s" request because he had too many other tasks. A few weeks later, "Tatsumi" suddenly told "Mac," "Dad, I’ve already agreed to the 'boss’s' request on your behalf." At that moment, "Mac" immediately asked, "(What’s in the luggage?) Is there nothing wrong?" Since "K·S" said he was not very familiar with the identity of the "boss," and "Mac" was already dead, and "Tatsumi" was also unknown, I am currently unable to determine what was in that "luggage." However, at this moment, I received some inspiration from other testimonies. A Japanese who once worked for the U.S. military once told me the following: "One day, 'Tatsumi' came to me and said, 'I have something very important, can you keep it for me?' When I asked what it was, he only replied, 'It’s a treasure.' I then said, 'A couple of days is fine, but a week is too long.'" After hearing this, 'Tatsumi' cursed and left. After a while, he told me, 'The thing I mentioned earlier, I’ve asked other friends to take care of it.' I asked him, 'Is it Tachikawa?' He replied, 'No, it’s in Fuchu.'" Overall, we can consider that "Tatsumi" was talking about the 300 million yen robbery. The "treasure" naturally refers to the 300 million yen. "So, is it Tachikawa?" "No, it’s in Fuchu." What does this dialogue mean? Considering that the witness was a Japanese who once worked for the U.S. military (and was working at a U.S. military base at the time), we can assume that the "Tachikawa" he mentioned at the time referred to the U.S. Air Force Tachikawa Base. Then, what does "Fuchu" refer to?