The yakuza have been mostly broken up, and the reason they did that is they were semi-legal as a result of their efforts during the rebuilding of Japan post-WW2.

In short, they were basically the only people that had money left so they bought politicians and built buildings until they got enough laws passed to operate in the open.

Ironically, there's a lot of conspiracy theories about Abe's assassination actually being a yakuza hit. Abe's government is both why the yakuza have been debanked and de-legalized and he was rumored for years to have close ties with Yakuza leaders.

The funny thing is Americans that played Yakuza: Like A Dragon probably didn't even realize they were beating the shit of a young Shinzo Abe analogue in Ryo Aoki.