Gangster extorted money from Kotomitsuki

Sources close to Tokyo police and the Sumo Association say not only the wrestler, Kotomitsuki, but other people who work in sumo are caught up in illegal gambling.

According to the sources, a man belonging to a sumo stable acted as an intermediary for the betting on baseball games.

In December last year, they say, Kotomitsuki asked the intermediary to pay him his gambling winnings worth tens of thousands of dollars.

But the intermediary told Kotomitsuki to get the money from another man, who is also employed in sumo.

Kotomitsuki did as instructed, but the other man's brother then appeared and threatened to reveal the wrestler's gambling activities unless he paid hush money.

The brother, a gangster and former sumo wrestler, extorted about 30-thousand dollars, and later tried to make Kotomitsuki pay more than one-million dollars.