Shigeru Yagi, a moneylender who flaunted his wealth...

Shigeru Yagi, a moneylender who flaunted his wealth on TV and ridiculed police, was sentenced to death for murdering two acquaintances and seriously injuring another with poison and overdoses of cold medicine.
The Saitama District Court ruled that Yagi, 52, masterminded the deadly schemes in the 1990s involving hostesses, fake marriages and life-insurance policies worth 1.44 billion yen.
During the trial, Yagi argued he never gave instructions to kill and insisted he was the victim of a frame-up. Prosecutors indicted Yagi on six charges, including murder, attempted murder and insurance fraud. He was convicted on all six counts.
Presiding Judge Masaki Wakahara said Yagi's motive for the death-for-insurance plots was simple greed.
"Without Yagi, all the crimes could not have been possible," Wakahara said.
The string of crimes originated in Yagi's bar in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture. The victims were regulars at the bar, while Yagi's three accomplices were employed as hostesses there.
Yagi was convicted of taking out insurance policies on two victims - Shuichi Sato, a 45-year-old factory worker and Akira Morita, a 61-year-old pachinko parlour worker - arranging their marriages using fake documents to hostesses Analie Sato Kawamura, 37, and Takako Morita, 40, and causing their death with poison. Yagi and the hostesses then cashed the insurance payouts.
Yagi also attempted to kill another 41-year-old man, who with Morita was duped into consuming large doses of cold medicine during boozing sessions almost every night for months, the ruling said.
The 41-year-old man survived the cold-medicine scheme, but was once hospitalized in critical condition.
The three hostesses ? including Mayumi Take, 35, who helped to kill Sato by having him eat a bun laced with a deadly plant - received prison terms for their roles. They all confessed helping Yagi perpetrate the crimes.