Tokyo Joe (born Yoichi Shibuya) was a Japanese-American mobster who became an FBI informant after surviving a hit attempt ordered by his own boss. Born in Tokyo in 1935, Shibuya moved to the United States in 1956 and quickly rose through the ranks of the Los Angeles-based Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. In 1972, after a dispute with his boss, Shibuya was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting. Miraculously, he survived and, fearing for his life, decided to cooperate with the FBI. Tokyo Joe's testimony helped lead to the downfall of several high-ranking Yamaguchi-gumi members, including his former boss, Kazuo Taoka. For his cooperation, Shibuya was given a new identity and placed under the FBI's Witness Protection Program.
