and following Tsukasa's assumption of the leadership of the Yamaguchi-gumi, in 2005, he flew the number-two position (wakagashira) at the largest known yakuza syndicate only four months after his entrance into its headquarters. The wakagashira post had been vacant since 1997 when the fifth wakagashira, Masaru Takumi, was assassinated. In 2008, under his dominating influence, the headquarters purged a total of nine "big names" from the syndicate, including Tadamasa Goto as the head of the Goto-gumi, and forced two into temporary suspension, resulting in causing some serious controversies in the entire Yamaguchi-gumi community. Also in 2008, it was noted that Takayama, as the Yamaguchi-gumi's wakagashira, attended the funeral of Hideo Mizoshita, the third president of the Kudo-kai. The Kudo-kai was a Kyushu-based independent syndicate known as the leading member of an anti-Yamaguchi federation, and he attended this historic funeral as the deputy leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi while the actual leader Tsukasa was in prison. Meanwhile, in Nagoya, by late 2009, the Kodo-kai's membership had reached 4,000. Originally started with just 25 members, the clan grew to an exceedingly powerful, 4,000-member organization within only 26 years, as noted in the National Police Agency's anti-Yamaguchi strategy report distributed in 2009, and this rapid growth, as an "astounding success", was largely attributed to Takayama. 2010 arrest In November 2010, Takayama, as the "de facto leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi", was arrested on suspicion of extorting more than US$400,000 from a businessman in the construction industry. "If Takayama is successfully prosecuted it will be devastating for the Yamaguchi-gumi, and could even spark a war for control of the organisation," said Jake Adelstein. This arrest came shortly before the top, Shinobu Tsukasa, was due to be released from prison, and soon after this, in December, the number-three boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Tadashi Irie, was also arrested. Controversy At the time of the arrest, the victim was reported to be just a 65-year-old man engaged in the construction business. However several doubts had been cast about his true identity, as he did not seem to be a "decent civilian" (katagi); he was reported to be an influential figure in Kyoto's raw concrete industry, and a senior manager of a buraku organization based in Kyoto, who allegedly had a connection with the Yamaken-gumi or even been a member of this Yamaguchi-gumi clan. Yamaken-gumi had been a major internal rival of the Kodo-kai especially since Takayama and Tsukasa joined