From HCV Advocate:
Four Japanese gang figures got liver transplants at UCLA
http://www.latimes.com
UCLA Medical Center and its most accomplished liver surgeon provided a
life-saving transplant to one of Japan's most powerful gang bosses, law
enforcement sources told The Times.
In addition, the surgeon performed liver transplants at UCLA on three
other men who are now barred from entering the United States because of
their criminal records or suspected affiliation with Japanese organized
crime groups, said a knowledgeable law enforcement official who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The four surgeries were done between 2000 and 2004 at a time of
pronounced organ scarcity. In each of those years, more than 100
patients died awaiting liver transplants in the Greater Los Angeles
region.
The surgeon in each case was Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil, executive chairman
of UCLA's surgery department, according to another person familiar with
the matter who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Busuttil is a
world-renowned liver surgeon who co-edited a leading text on liver
transplantation and is one of the highest-paid employees in the
University of California system.
There is no evidence that UCLA or Busuttil knew at the time of the
transplants that any of the patients had ties to Japanese gangs,
commonly called yakuza. Both said in statements that they do not make
moral judgments about patients and treat them based on their medical
need.
U.S. transplant rules do not prohibit hospitals from performing
transplants on either foreign patients or those with criminal histories.
The most prominent transplant recipient, Tadamasa Goto, had been barred
from entering the U.S. because of his criminal history, several current
and former law enforcement officials said. Goto leads a gang called the
Goto-gumi, which experts describe as vindictive and at times brutal.
The FBI helped Goto obtain a visa to enter the United States in 2001 in
exchange for leads on potentially illegal activity in this country by
Japanese criminal gangs, said Jim Stern, retired chief of the FBI's
Asian criminal enterprise unit in Wa****ngton.
Goto got his liver, Stern said, but provided the bureau with little
useful information on Japanese gangs.
"I don't think Goto gave the bureau anything of significance," Stern
said. Goto "came to the States and got a liver and was laughing back to
where he came from. . . . It defies logic."
Complete text at:
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/news/newsRev/2008/NewsRev-259.html#_Four_Japanese_gang
Thomas
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