I first met Richard Roa in the fall of 1989. I was in the middle of researching Tokyo Underworld and someone had suggested I interview him because he knew the main character of the book, Nick Zapetti, and also because he worked for a time as a consultant to the Toa-Sogo Kigyo, a real-estate/leisure outfit based in Roppongi, which was, in fact, a transmogrification of the infamous Tokyo gang, the Tosei-kai, a yakuza organization which occupied another major part of the book. My scheduled two-hour interview with Rick Roa metastasized into several lengthy Q&A session because the stories this man had to tell were so damned interesting, starting with the chilling tale he told of being caught in a Tokyo mob run clip joint and what he had to do to get his money back.
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