CASE CRACKED:
November 1st 1984:
A threatening letter arrives at the Tokyo home of Morinaga Dairy vice president, Mitsuo Yamada on November 1st 1984. This was one in a long line of extortion and harassment letters sent to various Japanese food companies by a criminal gang calling themselves "Monster with 21 Faces".
This campaign of terror began March 18th 1984 and up to this date included lacing candy of Morinaga & Company with cyanide and placing it on various Japanese stores shelves.
The letter to Morinaga Dairy Vice President Mitsuo Yamada on November 1st 1984 read:
"To President
You saw our power didn’t you? If you disobey us we will destroy your company. You will get killed. Decide whether you want to give us money or do you want to see your company destroyed? Tell us in the Mainichi Newspaper on either the 5th or 6th of November. Use the missing persons. Use these words in the reply: Jiro, Morinaga, Mother, Police, Bad friend, Money, Meal. As we said before we want two hundred million yen.
Monster with 21 faces"
November 6th 1984:
Morinaga responded to the criminals by placing the missing persons advertisement in the Mainichi Newspapers Morning Edition.
"Dear Jiro, Bad friend disappeared. Come back. Warm meal is waiting. Mother Chiyoko."
Broken down, the message is thought to be referring to gold as "Warm Meal", "Mother" is Morinaga, "Bad friend" is the police and "Jiro" is the Monster group itself. Interpreted this way the message reads:
"Dear Monster, The police disappeared. Come back. The gold is waiting. Morinaga."
The Monster with 21 Faces (かい人21面相, Kaijin Nijūichi Mensō) was a criminal group who terrorized Japan from March 1984 to August 1985 . They committed Attempted Murder, Kidnapping for Ransom, Burglary Injury, Non-Residential Building Arson, Attempted Extortion and many Postal Law Violations.
They were never caught .
The information gathered is presented in an 8 episode podcast called “The Monster with 21 Faces”
Subscribe to the RSS feed on all major podcast players. Search for “The Monster with 21 Faces” and prepare for the adventure November 17th 2020.