Alleged Philadelphia mob boss Joe Ligambi may have a new home for the holidays. Police sources say the reputed Mafia chieftain has a new house around 17th and Forrestal streets in South Philly. In fact, it's been undergoing some high-end renovations for months.

"With all the different kinds of materials we've seen the contractors taking into the house," says one organized crime investigator, "it must be beautiful inside."

While the interior may be a veritable mansion of ivory and marble, it's still a row house on the outside. That dichotomy fits Ligambi's rep; more of a Docile Don than a Skinny Joey.

"Ligambi is a low-key mobster," according to one investigator assigned to the mob squad. "As boss of the family, he's probably making a lot of money but he's living low profile, the way Angelo Bruno did."

Bruno, the boss of the Philly mob for 30 years and a millionaire many times over, insisted on living in a row house because he believed that the Internal Revenue Service would go after him for taxes if they saw him living a life of luxury. His fears weren't baseless.

"Remember, they got Al Capone on tax evasion," says the mob investigator. "Most of the mob bosses who have come after Capone haven't forgotten that lesson."

Asian Merger

Federal and state organized-crime investigators in the area are studying up on the Japanese crime syndicate known as the Yakuza because of new concerns that Korean-American gangsters have partnered up with the group, one of the world's largest criminal organizations.

There's good reason for the lawmen to worry, considering the group's underworld successes overseas.

The Yakuza—with more than 100,000 members belonging to more than 2,000 organized-crime families in Japan—doesn't bother to hide in Japanese society. In fact, they tend to mark their gang headquarters with signs and logos for everyone to see. (Imagine that in South Philly).

Far bigger than the Italian-American Mafia, the Yakuza controls gambling, prostitution, loan-sharking and drug trafficking and has powerful criminal alliances with other syndicates in the Far East and Hawaii. They've also infiltrated legitimate businesses in Japan, including banks and entertainment companies, and have widely acknowledged alliances with right-wing political parties.

For decades, the group only admitted Japanese men into its ranks, but Korean immigrants living in Japan have been allowed to join of late. Now, say local investigators, Korean members of the Japanese Yakuza are reaching out to Korean-American gangs here in the United States.

A former high-ranking Korean member of the Japanese Yakuza—he used to control a bank for the mob but recently became an informant—was permitted to travel to New York and Philadelphia last month. He briefed organized-crime investigators on potential criminal alliances between the Japanese Mafia and Korean-American crime syndicates operating in the Delaware Valley.

Korean organized-crime groups came to the U.S. in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The biggest among them are the Korean Killers, Korean Fuk Ching, the Green Dragons and the Korean Power. Korean-Americans in the Philadelphia area have been victimized by members of the Korean Killers and the Korean Power, but most are reluctant to talk to the police about extortion or kidnapping attempts made against them.

"It's a big deal when street-level gangs hook up with international crime syndicates," says one state investigator. "The damage such an alliance can do is immense. Such relationships open up new avenues of narcotics trafficking, immigrant smuggling, you name it. And, it's a tough nut to crack because almost none of us speak Korean or Japanese."