True Life Tuesday: The Monster with 21 Faces

This is an interesting story out of Japan. It reminds me a bit of the Tylenol murders that took place here in the US. 

The group targeted several food companies in Japan. The bulk of their activity was against candy companies Glico and Morinaga. They named themselves after a villain by Edogawa Rampo "The Fiend with Twenty Faces". Around 9pm on March 18, 1984 two armed men broke into the home of the mother of Gilko's president Katsuhisa Ezaki. They tied her up and took the key to her son's home. When they entered the home they tied up Ezaki's wife and one of his daughters. They then found him in the bathtub with his other two children. The dragged him from the tub naked and took him to a warehouse in Ibaraki, Osaka. After three days he was able to escape but he was unable to provide any helpful information to the police.

Several weeks after Ezaki's escape several vehicles at the Gilco headquarters were set on fire. Then on April 8, 1984 the group sent a letter to the police calling them stupid and giving them information on the cart they used in the kidnapping and the supermarket the shopped at for food for their hostage. They also sent letters to media outlets taunting the police. On April 16, 1984 a container of hydrochloric acid was found inside a Gilco building in Ibaraki, Osaka - the same city where the group held Ezaki.

On May 10, 1984 the group sent a letter to the Gilco headquarters stating that they had laced $21 million worth of their candy with potassium cyanide. The company's products were removed from shelves but no poisoned candies were found. The result of this action was a loss of $20 million and the lay offs of 450 part time workers. On June 26, 1984 the group sent a letter stating that they forgave Gilco and the harassment stopped. In total the company lost around $130 million in sales due to this harassment. 

The group then turned their attention to Morinaga. Between October 1984 and February 1985 21 packages of poisoned Marinaga candies were found. On November 7, 1984 the company reduced its production by 90% due to the issue. In August of 1985 Superintendent Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture died by self-immolation because he was unable to catch the criminals. Five days later the group sent another letter to media and they were never heard from again. No suspects were ever charged even though the police investigated 28,000 tips and 125,000 persons of interest.