Mako Tanida is a crime lord of the Yakuza Azuma-Dojin criminal syndicate who escaped from prison.
Background[]
Mako Tanida was a notorious Japanese crime lord and gangster of the Yakuza Azuma-Dojin criminal syndicate based in Osaka when he was arrested by an FBI task force that was comprised of: Special Agents Sam Raimo, Pete McGuire, Bobby Jonica, and Donald Ressler. While they were hunting Raymond Reddington, Tanida being an associate of Reddington. By the time of his arrest, Tanida controlled a large part of the heroin narcotics trade traveling along the Silk Road. He was arrested, convicted, and placed in Abashiri Prison, near Hokkaido. Although for a time the United States Intelligence Community believed that Tanida was somehow operating his criminal syndicate from inside the prison, it was later made clear that his younger brother, Aiko, aka “Tensei” (meaning “reborn” in Japanese), who escaped the FBI raid that got Mako arrested, was believed to have taken over the criminal syndicate since then, expanding it to grow to include alliances with the Chinese Triad, Korean Tong, and even the Russian mafia.
Season 1[]
“Mako Tanida”[]
Tanida escapes prison in Japan, leaving the police scrambling to find him. He makes it to Tokyo, where he finds FBI agent Sam Raimo. Tanida talks of honor, and tells Raimo to commit seppuku, promising Raimo's family will be spared. Raimo agrees and disembowels himself.
Later on, Tanida arrives in the United States under the alias Yaku Itami, “Itami” being Japanese for damage or pain. In the US, Tanida locates Pete McGuire, another agent responsible for his arrest, and makes the same seppuku offer that he made for Raimo. McGuire is later found dead, having jumped to his death.
When it becomes apparent to Jonica and Ressler that Tanida is targeting the 4 agents who arrested him, Ressler tries to take Audrey Bidwell into hiding. However, Tanida rams into his car and fires multiple shots into Ressler's car, forcing him to pull over. As he and Ressler are struggling for Ressler's gun, Audrey steps out of the car and is shot by Tanida, allowing him to escape while Ressler tries to save Audrey.
Fueled by hatred and anger, Ressler goes with Jonica on a rogue hunt for Tanida. Tanida is later captured and placed in the agents' car, where he reveals that Aiko, his brother and long-thought successor to Tanida's crime lord status, was in fact killed in the raid that resulting in his arrest, with Jonica trying to get him to keep quiet. Ressler figures out that is was Jonica who had taken over as a crime lord, not Aiko. Tanida is then shot by Jonica, resulting in Ressler and Jonica fighting over the wheel an eventually tipping over the car.
When Ressler goes back to the crash site, he finds that Tanida had escaped while he was chasing Jonica.
While Ressler is going through Audrey's belongings in his apartment, Dembe Zuma arrives with a package from Raymond Reddington. Opening it, he finds Tanida's head inside the box.
Season 4[]
“Mr. Kaplan”[]
Mako's body is identified.
“Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion”[]
Tanida is mentioned by Agent Gale during his search for evidence connecting the task force to Raymond, implying that Tanida's severed head was given as a gift, rather than a warning, to Ressler.