So, I've been playing Yakuza 0, and I read about how some actual yakuza said the series is actually quite realistic, for a video game, in its portrayal of the crime syndicate, in that it's an organization that operates openly, in a semi-legal manner, according to well-defined rules, at least in theory. This made me think, would it be possible for other developed countries to have crime syndicates that operate in a yakuza-like way?
Of course, as the yakuza itself has fallen far from the glory days depicted in the series, the same could be true of its alternate equivalents, too; sadly, I think the Sicilian Mafia, being the most hierarchical of the Italian crime syndicates, could've easily become something not unlike the yakuza, had Sicily's history gone in a different way (a constitutional monarchy in Sicily, post-1848, as an independent state or a federated state inside a federal Italy, or especially an independent Sicily after World War II), whereas the Latin American syndicates, they might be there already, especially in some Mexican states, and might only lack the semi-official veneer of the yakuza.
Takers?
Of course, as the yakuza itself has fallen far from the glory days depicted in the series, the same could be true of its alternate equivalents, too; sadly, I think the Sicilian Mafia, being the most hierarchical of the Italian crime syndicates, could've easily become something not unlike the yakuza, had Sicily's history gone in a different way (a constitutional monarchy in Sicily, post-1848, as an independent state or a federated state inside a federal Italy, or especially an independent Sicily after World War II), whereas the Latin American syndicates, they might be there already, especially in some Mexican states, and might only lack the semi-official veneer of the yakuza.
Takers?