COLUMN ONE - Glimpse at a faded yakuza - Just why a desperate Japanese gangster killed a mayor is a mystery, but the act has lifted a veil on a crime syndicate that has hit hard times.

And things were not looking up.

The yakuza code calls for troublesome members to perform the joint-by-joint amputations when they upset the bosses. Shiroo was an old-style gangster. A man who believed in the rituals.

But yakuza life was hard and getting harder for Shiroo. Everyone knew he had money troubles. His bosses expected him to kick about $3,000 a month their way in homage, and it was tough coming up with the cash in a city where business had been so bad for so long. Even worse, the once-lucrative option of skimming money from public works projects was dying now that the Japanese government had turned off the geyser of public money.

Shiroo knew guys living off their wives and girlfriends, others collecting social security. He had tried selling a newfangled brand of paving stones. Had tried peddling $300 statues of dogs to mark the Year of the Dog.

He had health problems too. In more prosperous times Shiroo had been a big man, chubby even, with a slight waddle that led one friend to call him "Penguin Man" (though never to his face). Now he was 59 and weakened by diabetes. Had dropped 25 pounds. Seemed depressed.

Friends wrote off his moods to his separation from his fourth wife, or worries about his 4-year-old son, born with Down syndrome. He seemed listless, his former daughter-in-law said.

But there was no sign of the explosion to come.

In a cellphone conversation on the afternoon of April 17, Shiroo told a friend he was looking for Nagasaki's mayor. The city was in the midst of an election and Mayor Itcho Ito was campaigning for a fourth term. Shiroo told his friend he had a document he wanted to show the mayor and asked where to find him.

The friend suggested he wait until the end of the day and try the mayor's campaign office. Four hours later, Shiroo had an associate drop him off near the spot, where he waited for Ito to return.

When the mayor arrived shortly before 8 p.m., Shiroo stepped up behind him, pulled out a handgun and fired two shots into his back. The bullets knocked Ito onto the rough sidewalk, where he began to bleed to death.

Shiroo tried to run but was tackled by the mayor's wife and aides. Ito's wife was screaming as they pinned him to the ground. Some witnesses later told reporters the killer reeked of booze.