[2] Irie began his career as a yakuza when he joined the Fukui-gumi, a Yamaguchi affiliate based in Osaka.
He later joined the Takumi-gumi in 1978 when Masaru Takumi, then the number-two member (wakagashira) of the Fukui-gumi, became an executive underboss (jikisan) of the 3rd Yamaguchi-gumi.
[1] On December 1, 2010 — just 2 weeks after the arrest of the "number-two of the Yamaguchi-gumi" Kiyoshi Takayama[5] —, Irie, as the "number-three of the Yamaguchi-gumi",[2] was arrested on suspicion of compensating the relatives of a hitman (a member of the Takumi-gumi[6]) who had been jailed for murdering a senior member of the Nakano-kai.
[7] He was charged with paying 3.9 million yen ($46,555) to the hitman's relatives,[3] whom he had paid a total of at least approximately US$250,000.
[8] He was released on bail on December 24 of that year,[9] and received a jail sentence of 10 months in March 2011.