A loan shark who was charged with using his mistresses...

A loan shark who was charged with using his mistresses to murder two men and sicken another to collect hefty life insurance payouts was sentenced to death. The Saitama District Court handed down the death sentence on Shigeru Yagi, 52, who had already been fingered as the mastermind behind the crimes when his mistresses, Mayumi Take, Takako Morita and Analie Sato Kawamura were convicted. "The defendant's crime was vicious. He devised the methods (of killing and sickening the victims). Without him, the crimes would not have been committed," Presiding Judge Masaki Wakahara said as he handed down the ruling.