1984, Japan. A man walks into a Glico store. Quietly, even though he is not a store worker, he puts the tampered Glico candy packages on the shelves. Little does he know the store’s video camera records him committing the crime. Yet, he is able to elude the authorities grasp and manages to continue the scheme. Two food companies, Ezaki Glico and Morinaga, in the surrounding areas become the first main victims to extortion, blackmail and abduction. The person or perhaps group behind it all? The Monster with 21 faces.

The Monster with 21 Faces

It all begins with an abduction

On March 18, 1984, two masked men broke into the home of Katsuhisa Ezaki, the president of the Japanese confectionery company Glico. They abducted Ezaki from his residence, dragging him naked from his bathtub and forcing him into the back of a car. In exchange for Ezaki’s freedom, the abductors demanded 1 billion yen in addition to 220 pounds of gold bullion. However, before the ransom money could be paid by the Glico company, Ezaki managed to escape.

Unfortunately, the ordeal didn’t end there. The aftermath of the incident followed on April 10, when six cars were set on fire at company grounds. A container of hydrochloric acid was also sent to the company along with mocking threat letters. This marked only the beginning of a prolonged campaign of terror against Glico.

Blackmail Letters & Poisoned Candy Packages

The first threat letter arrived on May 10 in 1984, signed by “The Monster with 21 Faces”. The moniker was based on a shape-shifting thief from Edogawa Rampo’s 1963 novel “The Fiend with the Twenty Faces”. In the letter, the Monster ridiculed the police, announced that they had poisoned Glico candy packages with potassium cyanide and had put them on the shelves for sale. As a result, all Glico candies throughout Japan were removed from grocery stores, which forced the company to lay off employees. The removal of products caused a financial loss of $20 million.

Police investigation had little clues to work with until a security camera caught a glimpse of a man with a baseball hat, who was not a store worker, putting Glico tampered products on the store shelf. The police weren’t sure with how many culprits they had to deal with since the camera footage showed only one man, while the abduction had been executed by two men, which complicated investigations.

Other manufacturers like Morinaga, Marudai Ham and House Food Corporation food companies were also affected over the course of time. In October 1984, the Monster addressed in a letter that 20 packages of Morinaga candy were laced with sodium cyanide after the Morinaga company had previously denied their demanded ransom money. Fortunately, police was successful in recovering 21 poisoned packages all over the country, resulting in zero casualties. Despite their efforts, the Glico Morinaga incident caused fear all over Japan, which resulted in the plummet of candy sales.

Video camera records mysterious man putting Glico products on the shelf

The Kyoto Train Operation – First Sighting of the Monster?

In order for them to stop, the Monster with 21 Faces demanded 50 million yen from the police. On June 28, 1984, police set up an undercover operation, which involved an officer carrying the ransom money boarding the train heading to Kyoto to watch for the white flag inside like the Monster had instructed them to. No flag appeared, but the officer noticed a suspicious man, who was about 35 – 45 years old and 175–178 cm tallwith an athletic build. According to the police officer, the man wore clear-rimmed glasses, short permed hair and had thin lips and eyebrows. What stood out were his distinctive fox-like eyes. The suspect seemed to closely observe the investigator but during the incident, he eventually slipped away in a crowd at Kyoto station and the police lost him.

On November 14, 1984 during a separate police operation at Otsu Service Area, another sighting of the Fox-Eyed-Man occurred. A similar looking man also watched investigators from the public phone booth area. However, the police officers request for permission to detain and question said man failed due to the current undergoing police operation taking priority. The man too eventually vanished from their sight and avoided being captured.

Top suspect lead ends in today’s mystery

While the Monster with 21 Faces may have been an elusive enigma, police investigations still came up with their top suspect whistleblower Manabu Miyazaki, who had exposed Glico for illegal waste in 1977 to 1978. Manabu fit the police sketch and descriptions and due to his own father having been a local Yakuza boss, he also had ties to gang members. But when police were unable to dispute his alibis, they eventually stopped looking into him and dropped him as a suspect.

After all, the Monster with 21 Faces’ terror claimed their first only victim in August 1985. The head of the Shiga Prefecture police, Shoji Yamamoto, killed himself by setting himself on fire due to not being able to handle the stress and constant failure in the case. This eventually led the Monster to the decision to quit their activity, announcing that they were bad guys who had more to do than bully food companies. Ever since then, they have never been heard of again. As of today, the Monster with 21 Faces was never caught and their identity still remains a mystery. Even if the police caught the Monster of 21 Faces today, they could not be charged for their crimes as the Japanese statute of limitations for kidnapping and the poisoning of food products has already expired.

Sources:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/monster-with-21-faces
https://www.monsterwith21faces.com/who-was-the-foxeyed-man
https://www.historicmysteries.com/major-crimes/monster-21-faces/1240/