The Gangbusters were a Japanese anti-yakuza vigilante group which was active in Kabukicho, Tokyo during the 2000s. The Gangbusters' stated aim was to wipe out the yakuza and other street criminals, although they were, in reality, created by the Tojo-kai officer Norogumi Asano as a means of getting rid of rival yakuza families so that his own family would survive. On 10 December 2005, the Gangbusters twice attempted to ambush Kazuma Kiryu near the Hotel District as he searched for his imperilled friends Shinji Tanaka and Reina Tsuru, but Kiryu defeated them both times and eventually decided to seek out their leader and find out the truth behind them.