[2] Goto, who has been convicted at least nine times,[2] was a prominent yakuza and at one point the most powerful crime boss in Tokyo,[3] even being dubbed the "John Gotti of Japan".
[6] He had been barred from entering the United States until 2001, when he got a special visa deal from the FBI for a life-saving liver transplant at a time of pronounced organ scarcity.
[11] In 2001, after dealing with the FBI, he entered the United States to receive a liver transplant, and gave a $100,000 donation to the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
[14] Goto began disappearing from the yakuza scene in 2008 after allegedly being forced into retirement by the Kobe headquarters' ruling faction led by Kiyoshi Takayama of the Kodo-kai.
[11] Angkor Association for the Disabled's official website has listed Goto as a major donor, with his Buddhist name "The Venerable Chyuei [Gotou]".
In December 2015, Goto was named by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control as an individual with ongoing associations with the Japanese yakuza.