The Glico-Morinaga Case
For seventeen months, a group calling itself the Monster with 21 Faces threatened to poison Japan's candy, taunted the police, and then simply stopped.
Briefing
In March 1984, two masked men took the president of Ezaki Glico, one of Japan's largest candy makers, from his home near Osaka and demanded 1 billion yen and gold bullion; he escaped after 65 hours. Weeks later, letters signed "the Monster with 21 Faces" began arriving at Glico and at Osaka news organizations, claiming the company's candy had been laced with cyanide. The threats spread to Morinaga and other food makers, and police questioned an estimated 125,000 people. Then, in August 1985, the letters stopped.
This case uses only the public record and names no one as responsible. No one was ever charged.
What was the Monster with 21 Faces really after?
Evidence board
- E1March 1984, near Osaka
The kidnapping
Two masked men took the president of Ezaki Glico from his home and drove him to a warehouse in Ibaraki. He escaped after 65 hours when he was left unattended.
Source: CrimeReads - E2Ransom note, March 1984
1 billion yen and gold
A ransom note left in a phone booth demanded 1 billion yen in cash and about 220 pounds of gold bullion, by some accounts the largest ransom ever demanded in Japan.
Source: CrimeReads - E3May 10, 1984
No poisoned Glico candy
A letter claimed that Glico candy on store shelves had been laced with potassium cyanide. No tainted sweets were ever found, but Glico pulled its products nationwide, a recall that cost at least $21 million.
Source: TIME - E4October 1984
Sealed. Question a witness to open it.
- E5A failed handoff, near Kyoto
The fox-eyed man
During one failed cash handoff, officers watching a train near Kyoto described a man with "eyes like a fox". The sighting gave the case its lasting nickname, but the man was never identified.
Source: CrimeReads - E61984 to 1985
Sealed. Question a witness to open it.
- E7Letters to Osaka newsrooms
A villain's name
The letters were signed "the Monster with 21 Faces", a name borrowed from a villain in a novel by the mystery writer Edogawa Rampo, and went to Glico and to Osaka news organizations.
Source: Japan Powered - E8August 12, 1985
The last letter
The group's final letter told reporters "It's fun to lead a bad man's life" and announced it would stop "torturing food-making companies". Nothing was ever traced to the group again.
Source: Japan Powered
Witnesses
The newsroom reporter
Composite characterReporter at an Osaka news organization that received the letters (composite)
The letters came to our newsroom. I read every one of them.
The detective
Composite characterInvestigator on the 1984 to 1985 manhunt (composite)
I worked the manhunt. We had every name in Osaka, and none of the right ones.