The Sendai District Court, Japan, sentenced 40-year-old...

The Sendai District Court, Japan, sentenced 40-year-old Shu Takahashi to death and four other people to life imprisonment for murder, robbery and other charges.
According to the ruling, Takahashi, a gangster from the Yamaguchi-gumi, one of Japan's largest crime syndicates, and the four strangled 36-year-old Sendai moneylender Eiichi Kyo and robbed him of about 300,000 yen in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, on 3 February, 2001, before dumping his body in the sea. They wanted to keep 2m yen they had borrowed from Kyo, the ruling said.
Presiding Judge Eiichi Homma said the defendants "made light of human life and there are no extenuating circumstances". They were also indicted on other charges including another murder.