Karasuma Group

Black Organization
Profile
Japanese name:	黒の組織 (Kuro no soshiki)
English name:	Black Organization
Boss:	Anokata
Active Members:	Gin Vodka Vermouth Korn Chianti Bourbon
Deceased Members:	Atsushi Miyano Elena Miyano Akemi Miyano Tequila Pisco Calvados Rikumichi Kusuda Ethan Hondou Arrack (Conan Special) Yoshiaki Hara (Movie 5) Irish (Movie 13)
Former Members:	Sherry (Ai Haibara) Ki'ichiro Numabuchi Generic (Conan Special)
Undercover Agents:	Rye (Shuichi Akai) Kir
Extended Canon Agents:
Aliases:	The men in black
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: Chapter 1 Anime: Episode 1
Appearances:	Chapters: 232 Episodes: 90 Movies: 8 Specials: 1 Openings: 32 Closings: 2

The Black Organization (黒の組織 ,kuro no soshiki) serves as the main antagonist in the series. It is a secret syndicate that commits a number of crimes for various reasons which range from blackmail to robberies to assassinations. The members of the organization are given code names based on alcoholic beverages. The leader of the Black Organization is unseen and unheard of and is known only through text messages. Their boss's phone number follows the tune of the children song Nanatsu no Ko (七つの子 ,lit. Seven children); the number is #969#6261. The true name of the Black Organization is unknown. The first members to appear were Gin and Vodka, who were responsible for Shinichi Kudo's transformation in the first place.

Members

Current

• Anokata: The leader of the Black Organization. Anokata's identity, gender, age, and location are all unknown; only a few things are known about him. He is respectfully referred to as "that person" (ano kata) by lower ranked members of the Black Organization.
• Gin: A high ranking Black Organization executive official who seems to specialize in coordinating deals and assassinations. He is one of the most frequently reoccurring Black Organization characters. He is shown to be intelligent and very acute, and his long silver hair and sweeping trench coat give him a distinctive appearance. He forced the drug APTX 4869 on Shinichi, and his favorite car is the Porsche 356A.
• Vodka: Gin's secretary and assistant, he is another frequently reoccurring Black Organization character. He wears a hat and sunglasses at all times. He is less intelligent compared to his boss Gin whom he often is seen working with.
• Vermouth (Sharon Vineyard/Chris Vineyard): A mysterious actress from America with exceptional disguise and voice changing abilities that allow her to pose as anyone. Like Gin, she is a Black Organization executive member. She is hated by a number of the members of the Black Organization, but due to the fact that she is their boss' favorite, she is untouchable and they are unable to do anything to her. It is unknown where her loyalty lies, as she often protects Conan and calls him a "silver bullet", implying that she believes him to be capable of bringing down the Black Organization. She also does not seem to age.
• Kir: Operates under alias of Rena Mizunashi, a TV reporter. Her true name is Hidemi Hondou. Like her deceased father, she is actually a member of the CIA who infiltrated the Black Organization. Her brother, Eisuke Hondou, was not aware of this since Hidemi pretended not to know him after she went undercover.
• Chianti: A professional sniper who has been seen to take orders from Gin. She has a fiery and impatient personality. She loathes Vermouth.
• Korn: A professional sniper who has been seen to take orders from Gin. His speech is characterized by short phrases with many pauses.
• Bourbon: A newly established organization member who has great deduction and intelligence gathering skills. His public name is Tooru Amuro. Kir said he has recently been dispatched to search for Sherry. Gin has said that Bourbon hates Shuichi Akai much more than he does and that he is a man who follows his own rules, much like Vermouth.

Deceased

• Tequila: An agent with the same rank as Vodka who seemed to primarily deal with programmers. He was a giant man who spoke with an Osakan accent. He was unintentionally killed in explosion in Episode 54 and Manga Volume 12.
• Pisco: An elderly executive agent who was also the chairman of a car company. He was killed by Gin in Episode 178 after being caught on camera performing an assassination. He discovered Haibara was Sherry, but was unable to inform anyone before he was killed.
• Calvados: A sniper infatuated with Vermouth who shot himself after being crippled by Shuichi Akai in Episode 345.
• Akemi Miyano: Shiho Miyano's older sister and Shuichi Akai's girlfriend. She was a low ranking member of the organization and completed a billion yen robbery as part of an agreement to release herself and her sister from the organization. The organization reneged on the deal and she was killed by Gin in Episode 128 and in Manga Volume 2.
• Atsushi Miyano: Haibara's father and Elena's husband. He headed the APTX 4869 project before Shiho Miyano took over. Both he and Elena died for some reason which Pisco called an accident while Shiho was young.
• Elena Miyano: Haibara's mother and Atsushi's wife. She was of British origin and was known within the organization as "Hell's Angel". She worked the APTX 4869 project before Shiho Miyano took over. Both she and Atsushi died for some reason which Pisco called an accident while Shiho was young. She left some mysterious tapes for Shiho.
• Rikumichi Kusuda: An agent sent to infiltrate Haido Central Hospital to discover the whereabouts of Kir. He killed himself when Akai was hot on his trail. (Episode 498)
• Ethan Hondou: A CIA agent who infiltrated the Black Organization. He committed suicide to protect his daughter Hidemi Hondou from being uncovered as a CIA agent.
• Yoshiaki Hara: A movie only agent killed by Gin in Movie 5
• Irish: A movie only agent killed by Chianti in The Raven Chaser.
• Arrack: A non-canon special manga agent who committed suicide from Conan Special: Volume 26.

Former

• Sherry (Ai Haibara/Shiho Miyano): A high ranking biochemist who worked on APTX 4869. She boycotted her work after her sister was killed and was awaiting execution. She escaped when she took an APTX 4869 she had smuggled in with her and shrunk to her 6~7 year old body. She has been living with Professor Agasa and has been working on an antidote to the APTX 4869.
• Rye: The codename of Shuichi Akai, he was an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Black Organization. His allegiance was discovered and he was rejected by the organization. His prowess led the organization to view him as the FBI's trump card.
• Ki'ichiro Numabuchi: A serial killer whom was slated to be the original test subject for the APTX drug before he escaped. Later escaped and is now in custody for murders he has committed, mostly in fear of the Black Organization sending agents after him.
• Generic: a non-canon special manga agent who is an old friend of Sherry who considers her as his sister. He used the Apoptoxin medicine to shrink his own body and entered the school where Haibara is. He lost his memory due to his own memory removal gas in Conan Special: Volume 26.

Organization structure and divisions

There are many divisions in the Black Organization which are roughly grouped into three categories: Internal Division (内部活動部隊), External Division (外部活動部隊), and General Oversight (全体監視役). The divisions are unrelated to relative ranking among members.

Boss File:Anokata 60px.jpg Anokata

General Oversight Gin Vodka

Internal Division External Division Unknown Drug Development Software Development Reconnaissance Operations Fundraising Unknown Assassination Robbery Sherry (escaped) Atsushi Miyano (deceased) Elena Miyano (deceased) Tequila (deceased) Vermouth File:Tooru Amuro 60px.jpg Bourbon Kir (Incertae sedis) Rikumichi Kusuda (deceased) Chianti Korn Ki'ichiro Numabuchi (arrested) Calvados (deceased) Akemi Miyano (deceased) Pisco (deceased) Rye (former) Ethan Hondou (deceased)

Rank

Agents who excel at their work and make their way up the ranks are given alcohol codenames. Even within codenamed agents there are further rank divisions. One advantage that comes with being higher ranked is access to more informational files; lower rank agents have to request to see certain materials from higher ranking agents.

Executive agents

The "Executive" agents are the highest ranked codenamed agents within the Black Organization under the boss. They can command many other codenamed agents and have access to more information than lower ranked agents. Even for other executive agents, killing one without express orders from the boss would result in a loss of standing.

• Gin
• Vermouth: Also the boss' favorite
• Pisco

Codenamed agents

Agents who have excelled beyond the rank and file member enough earn recognition and an alcohol codename.

Work(ed) under Gin

• Vodka: Tequila and Vodka are approximately the same rank
• Tequila: Vodka and Tequila are approximately the same rank
• Chianti
• Korn
• Rye

Work(ed) under Vermouth

• Calvados

General

• Sherry: Known to be highly ranked but it has not been stated if she was an executive agent.
• Kir
• Bourbon
• Irish

Non codenamed agents

• Akemi Miyano
• Ki'ichiro Numabuchi
• Ethan Hondou
• Rikumichi Kusuda
• Yoshiaki Hara

Unknown if codenamed

• Atsushi Miyano
• Elena Miyano

Modus operandi

The Black Organization commits crimes such as illegal deals, blackmail, robberies, and contract assassinations to raise money for research. The organization operates like a hybrid of a business and a mafia group. The Black Organization recruits outside talent and cultivates clients and sponsors by sending high ranking members like Gin to business meetings, but they also use mafia-like tactics to intimidate desirable civilians into making deals with them. Besides their financially motivated crimes, the organization engages in other stereotypical criminal activities like bribery, spying, and eliminating threats or former partners who are deemed useless or a risk.

The organization is highly secretive, and tries to eliminate anyone who has knowledge of their existence and threatens to expose their inner workings, including members who have become a liability, such as Akemi Miyano. They will dispose of even senior members like Pisco without hesitation to protect their secrets. Remaining unknown seems to be a higher priority than even research as Ai Haibara thought Conan would be killed before he could be “studied”. The organization often destroys evidence via fire or explosion and Haibara warns that they will not hesitate to kill family and friends of a target to protect the secret of their existence.

The organization has several practices that resemble those of stereotypical secret societies. The Black Organization members all tend to wear black outfits, which Akemi says is intentional and supposed to resemble crows. For an as of yet unrevealed reason, nearly all the Black Organization's members (with the exception of the boss) use code names based on alcoholic drinks: hard liquors for men and wine or wine-based cocktails for women. Also it would appear the organization is also fond using detective fiction and classic literature in their project names and passwords. Examples include the APTX 4869 pun on Sherlock Holmes, the computer password Shelling Ford- a prototype name for Sherlock Holmes, a computer virus called Night Baron named after a character from mystery writer Yusaku Kudo’s novels, and mission codenames relating to the novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The Black Organization conducts its crimes in ways that are difficult to trace back to them. Handguns and sniping, fire and bombs, and poisons seem to be their preferred techniques. Sometimes the organization attempts to disguise their murders as accidents or suicides. To this end, APTX 4869 was deployed as a poison because it is forensically difficult to detect. If they are unable to disguise a murder as something else, they will usually attempt to destroy any evidence to make it difficult to investigate, often with fire and explosions. Sometimes they will time their crimes so the blame will fall on another party instead, confusing the investigation. If a meeting place or asset of theirs is compromised, the Black Organization typically thoroughly destroys it before it can be investigated properly.

The Black Organization seems to have hideouts, but none of them have been revealed so far. In line with their secretive existence, the Black Organization prefers to meet in places that are isolated or where they can slip away easily. Several operatives occupy public positions like famous actress (Vermouth), television announcer (Kir), or company chairman (Pisco) which gives the Black Organization connections to circles of the rich and famous and access to otherwise unavailable locations. So far, the Black Organization have met clients at a dim restaurant, a Shinkansen's dining car, a crowded wake, a train station under construction, and in an isolated area of an amusement park. The Black Organization often conducts business at the shipping yard, as the shipping yard has hosted multiple Black Organization appearances. Not very many member's abodes have been shown, but they range in extravagance from Kir's relatively plain apartment to Vermouth's lavish penthouse in a tall building.

Individually, the organization's higher ranking members are typically intelligent and often multitalented. So far, at least all senior members are shown to carry guns and wear body armor under their clothing when out. Many agents, even those outside the assassination divisions, are skilled at using firearms. Disguise is a particularly common skill. Both Gin and Vermouth were shown to be resistant to Conan's tranquilizer needle and knockout gasand subsequently both readily shot themselves in order to continue to stay awake. This may show that they have trained themselves to resist knockout effects to prevent capture and cope with pain.

History

The Black Organization’s main research project, of which APTX 4869 is a part, has been around for at least half a century. The Black Organization has historical ties to America before the current storyline. Evidence for this is the involvement of the FBI and CIA in counter operations. Also, Jodie mentions that her father in the FBI was investigating Vermouth as Sharon Vineyard 20 years ago.

Goal

As of now, the Black Organization's main purpose and goal still remain unknown. What is known is that they are recruiting talent in biochemistry and computer science and funding research using the proceeds from their crime. Currently, the only sources of information Conan can rely on to learn the true intentions behind the Black Organization are former agent Sherry, the CIA's undercover member Kir, and Black Organization related cases.

It is known the Black Organization has involvement with computer viruses (Night Baron); however, the main purpose of their computer science research may be something other than virii and related to their biochemistry research. Whatever it is, it prompted the coerced programmer Suguru Itakura to say that he didn’t want to complete his program “for the sake of humanity”.

Quotes

“	Kudo-kun... You would probably never even dream that you are already part of a project the Black Organization has been working on already for half a century.	„
— Haibara

“	We can be both of God and Devil, since we are trying to raise the dead against the stream of time...	„
— Vermouth

“	You can’t rush things. Humans can never go against the stream of time. If man forcibly tries to change that there will be punishment.	„
— Haibara

“	No, I can't finish it... I won't. That program must not be completed, not for the sake of my vision but for humanity.	„
— December 22nd journal entry from Itakura's diary

Speculation about the Black Organization's goal

Immortality/anti aging

Shiho Miyano's name is in a guestbook logging past contestants for the immortality arrows

One possibility is that the Black Organization's research, especially APTX 4869 development, is trying to create a therapy which will cause immortality, stall or reverse the effects of aging, or extend a human's lifespan.

Shiho Miyano said that, in developing APTX 4869, she didn't intend to create a poison, which suggests that APTX 4869 was originally developed with a different goal in mind. It probably was just a useful side effect that the current prototype kills while leaving no trace in the victim’s body, and was thus employed as a poison - a usage which Haibara detests. Additionally, APTX 4869 is nicknamed the "incomplete detective" by the Black Organization, which means its true purpose has not yet been achieved.

The de-aging effect that occurred when Shinichi and Haibara took APTX 4869 probably indicates the main intent of the drug's development. After Pisco saw Haibara shrink back to her child form, he commented that he was impressed she had developed the drug to that point, implying that de-aging is in the right direction. Supporting this is Haibara’s line, "Kudo-kun? You would probably never even dream that you are already part of a project the Black Organization has been working on already for half a century." APTX 4869 is the only known intersection between Shinichi and the Black Organization; meaning that Shinichi's de-aging made him relevant to the Black Organization's project.

According to Haibara’s description about APTX 4869, the drug activates telomerase, an enzyme which can increase the number of times a cell can divide, and therefore affect a cell's lifespan and “reproductive potential”. The goal of this might be to revert all non-neural cells to a "youthful", high reproductive potential state.

Besides APTX 4869, Vermouth's unnatural youth is another indicator that the Black Organization may be involved in research towards extending lifespan, halting aging, or rejuvenating the body. In addition, Shiho Miyano’s name was on the raffle list for the immortality arrows in the mermaid case in Fukui.

Raising the dead

There is a possibility that the Black Organization may be trying to develop a method to revive the dead. Suguru Itakura's diary contained a quote by one of the Black Organization's agents, most likely Vermouth: "We can be both God and Devil since we are trying to raise the dead against the stream of time" The original purpose of APTX 4869 might be to raise the dead. Agasa and Conan later wondered if the line meant that the Black Organization was trying to create zombies. Once when Conan asked Haibara directly what APTX 4869 was meant to do she replied, "It's a nostrum to raise the dead. I wonder if that answer is satisfactory?" It may be her comment was a bluff intended to provoke Conan into revealing what he had been up to rather than a serious statement of the purpose of the drug.

Known Black Organization targets and contacts

This is a list of people related to the Black Organization either as targets or contacts who are not main characters.

Unnamed Weapons Smuggler

See: Roller Coaster Murder Case

Gin and Vodka blackmailed an unnamed company owner who had been smuggling guns for over 100 million yen in cash. After Vodka received the briefcase of cash, he returned the film evidence of the business' gun smuggling. Vodka may have intended to kill the man when the transaction was complete as he began to draw his gun, but it could also have been in response to the company owner's remark the Black Organization does even worse things than gun smuggling. The man escaped when Gin assaulted Shinichi who had been spying on the transaction and Vodka was distracted.

Akemi Miyano and the billion yen robbery gang

Five years prior to the current time-line, FBI agent Shuichi Akai infiltrated the Black Organization by dating Akemi Miyano. He was expelled after his true allegiance was uncovered, but Akemi could not be silenced because it would jeopardize the loyalty of her valuable sister Shiho Miyano. Eventually the Organization came up with a way to get rid of Akemi by pretending to make a deal with her; in exchange for a successful bank robbery, Gin told Akemi she and Shiho could go free. The Organization thought Akemi would surely fail and thus they would have an acceptable reason to kill her.

Akemi hired two partners, the family-less, get-away driver Kenzo Hirota who worked at a taxi company in Tokyo, and an unnamed giant man with connections at a Pachinko building to serve as muscle. Akemi and her two partners successfully pulled off the robbery, killing a guard in the process. Kenzo Hirota then backstabbed the other two by running away with the billion yen. In order to track him down, Akemi and her partner approached different detectives pretending to be Kenzo's relatives. Under alias Hirota Masami, Akemi Miyano pretended she was school girl from Yamagata to enlist Kogoro's help. Masami’s other giant accomplice pretended to be Kenzo's elder brother, Akira Hirota, from Kyushu. After the two find Kenzo, a fight broke out between the two men, resulting in the giant strangling Kenzo against Akemi's wishes. Akemi and the giant hung Hirota's corpse from a rope to make it appear like a suicide, grabbed the cash, and left for a hotel. Gin had given Akemi sleeping pills to add to the giant man's drink so she could take the money from him. The pills were really laced with cyanide and the giant man was killed. Akemi left the real cases of money at the hotel and went to meet with Gin and Vodka at the shipping yard. Gin killed her there, but was unable to recover the money.

Unnamed woman

100px

See: Shinkansen Bomb Case

An unnamed woman exchanged 400 million yen for information about gold worth even more money with Gin and Vodka on a bullet train's dining car. Instead of information, the Organization packed the case they were giving her with explosives to kill the woman because she was no longer useful. The anime replaced Gin and Vodka with lookalikes in the corresponding episode.

Hideaki Nakajima

See: Game Convention Case

Hideaki Nakajima, age 27, worked for Mantendo corporation's game development section and designed a mystery video game about Kogoro Mouri. He was in a University boxing club and has issues with creditors. He made an exchange with Tequila, giving Tequila a list of some of the world's most highly skilled programmers in exchange for a large amount of money. One of Hideaki's coworkers wanted to kill him for revenge, but Tequila was killed instead by accident. The Black Organization then immediately blew up the Daiko Building's Cocktail Bar where Hideaki and Tequila had meetings.

Masami Hirota

See: Murdered Professor Case

Masami Hirota, age 61, was a Nanyo University professor. Akemi Miyano had contact with and was probably close to him because she borrowed his name when coming up with an alias. Shiho mistakenly sent him an APTX 4869 disk when it was mixed up for a disk of Akemi's pictures Shiho was sending back via the professor's address. The Black Organization intended to kill Masami Hirota, but he was killed by an unrelated person first. Vodka disguised his voice and left a message on his answering machine pretending to be from "Kuro Life Insurance" so he could try to set up a meeting.

Ki'ichiro Numabuchi

Ki'ichiro Numabuchi is an assassin who escaped the Black Organization before they could test APTX 4869 out on him when they decided he was useless. He then escaped from prison after that. He first showed up in Osaka in the The Naniwa Serial Murder Case where he is a suspect. He is innocent of these particular crimes and was being starved in a shack by the real serial killer who wanted to frame him. He tries to stab Conan with a kitchen knife while escaping, but Heiji's good luck charm luckily blocks the blow. He took driving lessons at a seminary 20 years ago but failed. He appears again in Mitsuhiko's Mystifying Forest. When he escaped from the police (again) in a forest in Gunma, Conan discovers he apparently lived by the forest when he was younger and liked fireflies.

Shigehiko Nomiguchi

See: Hotel Party Murder Case

Shigehiko Nomiguchi, age 56, and a politician, was bribed by someone who was never clarified, (possibly by the Black Organization) and was going to be arrested and divulge information. The Black Organization decided to eliminate him. Pisco, with the unwilling help of Vermouth was ordered to perform the assassination. Pisco managed to successfully kill Nomiguchi by dropping a chandelier on him, but due to Conan's interference, the police discovered it was a murder and not an accident like the Black Organization hoped it would be ruled.

Jazz club man

See: Bus Hijacking Case

Gin and Vodka set up a man to be killed when they met with him at a jazz club. Vodka remarks that he seemed happy even though "he didn't even suspect that that drink would be his last." He was never shown in the manga, but was shown stepping into a taxi in the anime. Vermouth was disguised as a waiter in the club at the time, although it isn't clear whether she was there to assist if Gin and Vodka failed or if she had her own reasons.

Suguru Itakura

Suguru Itakura, age 45, was a famous CG graphic designer/games system engineer who also worked on special effects for films. He probably owns Itakura studio. Three years before the current timeline, he stopped developing CG and a particular program due to poor eyesight. Two years ago Tequila showed up at his office to say he was interested in the particular “system software” Itakura stopped developing. One year later, he was later forced to finish the program with a year deadline. Itakura didn’t want to complete the program “not only for his eyesight but for the sake of humanity.” He stayed in New Beika Hotel where he was killed by an unrelated party. He kept a diary and noted Vermouth had a cat around when he talked to her. Conan pretending to be him was told to put the disk in locker 1012. Itakura also helped provide many special effects for films and plays Vermouth and Yukiko Kudo were in. This is presumably how Vermouth hired him for the Organization's research as she was seen arguing with him on sets, something she never did with anyone else.

Souhei Dejima

100px

See: Bathroom Murder Case

Souhei Dejima, age 54, was Haibara’s father’s childhood playmate. He hasn’t seen Atushi Miyano for thirty years, which means they were friends until their twenties. He has lived in the house that Professor Miyano inherited from his father (Haibara’s grandfather) for thirty years. Professor Miyano and his wife Elena stopped by after Akemi was 4 or 5 years old (and they were in the Organization) to tell Dejima something important but Dejima was out so he never got to say what it was. Souhei Dejima was being watched by the Black Organization at that time. Akemi came back as an adult to hide tapes left by Haibara’s mother for Shiho in the toilet, and afterwards the Black Organization came to investigate secretly. Souhei Dejima was killed by someone unrelated to the Black Organization.

Yasuteru Domon

100px

See: Black Organization vs. FBI

Yasuteru Domon is a politician hard on crime whom the Black Organization attempts to assassinate after the events of the Ding Dong Dash. The FBI believed the boss ordered the assassination of Yasuteru Domon who wasn't even part of the Diet yet because he is hard on crime and had a chance of becoming the next Prime Minister. The Black Organization ordered Kir to arrange an interview with him in exchange for suppressing information that his father was under suspicion of having an extramarital affair 20 years ago. The Black Organization planned the timing so that it could be blamed on female gang leader Kiriko Busajima who had been accused of hiring a hitman to kill him before. The assassination plot was called off because Yasuteru Domon decided to stop running for office when the affair information was about to come out anyway. The Black Organization had not realized that this information was enough to get him to stop running for office.

Touji Funemoto

100px

See: Black Organization vs FBI and Mysterious Job Case

Touji Funemoto is a young boy who bore witness to Rena Mizunashi's motorcycle accident. Vermouth confronted and interrogated him to figure out how much he knew. Gin noticed Touji was taken into witness protection by the FBI, but Vermouth told Gin he was irrelevant.

Plot timeline

The beginning (Manga: File 1; Anime: Episode 1)

Shinichi is given APTX 4869 after being caught eavesdropping.

Gin and Vodka go on a roller coaster at Tropical Land in order to observe an individual that they have a transaction with, since they can clearly see whether their target has really arrived alone from the top of the coaster. The man they have business with is forced to pay them a large amount of money, in exchange for the proof of his weapon smuggling business. However, their mission are delayed as they are counted as suspects in a murder case, which is solved by Shinichi Kudo. Later that night, Vodka completes the transaction, unaware that Shinichi have been following him.

Gin, in turn, sneaks up behind the teen detective and knocks him unconscious with a pipe. Vodka is about to shoot him, only for Gin to remind him that the Police are still around and proposes to use an untested poison on him as it will leave no trace in an autopsy. They leave Shinichi for dead, unaware that the poison reverted his body to the age of a seven-year-old kid. The transformed Shinichi (now going by the name of Conan Edogawa) seeks to gain a lead on the two men.

Akemi Miyano's one billion yen robbery (Manga: File 13-16; Anime: Episode 128)

Manga version

Gin confronting Akemi Miyano.

In order to free both her sister and herself from the Black Organization, Akemi Miyano decides to accept the mission that they required her to do, which is to rob one billion yen from the bank.

For the robbery to become more successful, she chooses to get more assistance from the outside. Akemi then hires two partners, one is a taxi driver, Kenzo Hirota, and the other one is a giant man. However, after successfully getting the one billion yen, Kenzo Hirota betrays his two accomplices, taking the money for himself and runs away. Using the fake alias "Masami Hirota", Akemi disguises herself as a high-school girl and pays a visit to Kogoro's Detective Agency. She asks him to help her find Kenzo Hirota, who she lies being her father and has been missing for the past months. Because of a lucky coincidence, Kogoro, Ran and Conan find out his location and inform this to Akemi. Excited about the news, she rushes to their agency a second time with an imperfect disguise.

After meeting up with Kenzo Hirota, Akemi contacts the giant, who strangles their traitor later. The two hang up his corpse in order to make it looks like a suicide. They then take all of the money and leave Hirota’s house. Gin then gives Akemi what he calls “sleeping pills” and orders her to put them inside the giant’s drink. Unknowing to her, they are poison which kill him right the moment he drink his beer. After finding out that he is dead, Akemi puts the one billion yen they robbed earlier inside some suitcases and leaves them at the hotel’s front desk. She then goes by herself to the meeting place with Gin and Vodka. Gin asks her to hand out the money, but she refuses and demands them to fulfill their promise first, which is to let her sister and herself leave the Organization. Gin, however, betrays the deal, saying that it is impossible as her sister is one of the top brains inside the Organization. This makes Akemi realize they she has been tricked and used from the beginning. Gin gives her one last chance to tell him where she hid the money, only to be refused by her one more time. He shoots her and leaves the scene. By the time Conan finds out her location, it is already too late. It is in this moment that Conan learns about the Black Organization being the true mastermind behind the robbery, he also reveals his true identity to her. In her last words, Akemi asks Conan to find the robbed money before Gin and Vodka do. Her death is later concluded as a suicide by the Police, because only her fingerprints are found on the gun that killed her.

Anime version

Even though Akemi Miyano/Masami Hirota was introduced much earlier into the anime series in Episode 13 with the Kenzo Hirota storyline that was closer to the Manga version, however, that case was heavily altered and had nothing to do with the Black Organization. In order to fix that plot error, the animators reintroduce her again in Episode 128 while her previous appearance is ignored.

Conan talks to a dying Akemi.

In Episode 128, Akemi Miyano, under the alias of “Masami Hirota”, goes undercover and has come working at a bank for a period of time, most likely to make a scout of the situation, in order to prepare for the upcoming robbery. Akemi, with the assistance from Shirou Kaizuka (a race driver) and Kishi (one of the bank guards), pulls up a fake crime scene of two robbers with firearms breaking into the bank’s car that is used to transport one billion yen, and force the bank guard into transferring these money into their own van. However, during a night, the Black Organization murders Akemi’s two accomplices. A lipstick is dropped at the crime scene in order to frame Akemi and mislead the Police into thinking that she is the third robber (which she really is), and also the murderer at the same time, who kills her partners so she can take all the money for her own (which she isn't). Akemi goes to the meeting place with Gin and Vodka, despite Conan’s prevention, saying that she may be killed. She questions Gin about her accomplices’ death, and demands him to release her sister and herself from the Organization, just as promised, before she gives them the one billion yen. However, she is betrayed and killed by Gin. Vodka finds out the key of the locker where Akemi hid the money inside her pocket and they leave the scene, without knowing that it’s only a fake. By the time Conan finds out her location, it is already too late. It is in this moment that Conan learns about the Black Organization being the true mastermind behind the robbery, he also reveals his true identity to her. In her last words, Akemi gives Conan the real key and asks him to find the robbed money before Gin and Vodka do. Her death is later concluded as a suicide by the Police, because only her fingerprints are found on the gun that killed her.

Exchange on the bullet train (Manga: File 33)

Conan encounters Gin and Vodka.

Gin and Vodka travel aboard the bullet train with the mission of completing a transaction. Their target is a woman, who wants to exchange 400 million yen for the information about gold worth even more money with them. They arrange the meeting place at the dining car on the second floor of the bullet train.

On the way to their seats, Gin and Vodka coincidentally encounter Conan at a hallway. However, neither of the two recognizes that he is actually Shinichi Kudo, whom they tried to kill using APTX4869 some time earlier, due to the fact that they are not aware of its shrinking effect. Vodka demands Conan to get out of the way and they continue to walk to their seats, which are very near from the Mouris', without paying further attention to the boy.

A while later, Gin and Vodka decide to leave their positions to go to the dining car, where they will wait for the woman with whom they are going to have a transaction. Meanwhile, Conan plans an eavesdropping bug on their seats downstairs, awaiting for them to come back. The woman gives them a large suitcase, filled with 400 million yen, in exchange for their black attaché case, which she thinks contains the precious information about gold that she wants. However, the black case that the two man prepared has been attached with explosives instead. They has planned to kill off the woman from the beginning, since she is no more useful to the Organization. They also trick her, saying that they're going to reveal the method to open the black attaché if she calls a specific number that they give her, at a specific time; and by doing so she will unknowingly activate the bomb.

After finishing the transaction, Gin and Vodka return to their original seats, without knowing that they have been bugged. Conan hears the two men discuss the success of their mission, he also learns about their code names. They later depart at Nagoya Station, before the bomb explodes.

Tequila appears at the Mantendo Convention.

Tequila at the Mantendo Convention (Manga: File 114-116; Anime: Episode 54)

At the Mantendo Convention, Conan encounters a tall, built member of the Black Organization with the code name Tequila.

Tequila appears at the convention to complete a transaction with Hideaki Nakajima, an employee from the Mantendo Corporation. He wants to get a list of the best programmers in the world from Hideaki, in exchange for a large amount of money given by the Organization. The two man bump into each others. It is in this moment that they carry out the transaction, by switching their numbered tickets and the key to Hideaki's briefcase. He then goes to the front desk and uses Hideaki's ticket to acquire his briefcase, without knowing that the ticket has been switched beforehand by another employee who wants to kill Hideaki. Therefore, the briefcase that Tequila is holding is actually attached with a bomb.

After completing the transaction, Tequilas goes to a public telephone booth and tells Vodka that his mission is accomplished. He also reminds him to inform Gin as well. Later, Tequila enters the bathroom and tries to open the briefcase, which explodes and kills him.

The Black Organization then blows up the cocktail bar where Tequila and Hideaki used to meet, in order to erase every possible clue.

Ai Haibara's introduction (Manga: File 176-181; Anime: Episode 129)

Shiho swallows the APTX 4869.

For someone who has already resented the Black Organization for using the incomplete APTX 4869 that she created for killing purposes, the news of her sister's death is the final straw that induces Shiho Miyano to boycott her research until she receives an official explanation for why her sister was killed. The Black Organization refuses, and faces with the possibility that Shiho can defect or do something else drastic in revenge, decides to cut their loses by executing Shiho. Awaiting her execution, Shiho is handcuffed to a wall in a sealed room that also features a garbage chute too small for an adult to fit in. With no other way out, she takes a pill of APTX 4869 she has pocketed to commit suicide before she can be killed by the Organization, but instead she shrinks into a six- or seven-year-old girl. In her new, smaller body, she slips her hand free of the cuff and uses the garbage chute to escape the sealed room. She then attempts to reach Shinichi Kudo's house, hoping he may be able to help her. Exhausted, she collapses in front of Kudo's house, where she is found by Professor Agasa, who eventually adopts her. From that moment on, Shiho Miyano takes up the role of "Ai Haibara", the alias that Agasa helps her come up with.

Ai Haibara goes to Conan's class as a new student. She acts rather cold and reserved when the Detective Boys try to befriend her, and Genta notices she's looking at Conan suspiciously. She tells them where she lives but Conan fails to realize it's at Agasa's home. After school, a boy named Toshiya asks the Detective Boys to find his missing brother. The Detective Boys along with Haibara investigate Toshiya's house and find a painting of Natsume Sōseki. Toshiya reveals that before his brother disappeared, a woman, who had an interest in that portrait, approached Toshiya. The Detective Boys search around town to ask whether anyone has seen the woman or Toshiya's brother. Conan notices that a man was using a counterfeit ¥1000 and realizes Toshiya's brother was actually kidnapped and forced to help create counterfeit bills. After following the man along with the clues Toshiya's brother left behind, they are able to apprehend the organized crime group and save Toshiya's brother.

Haibara cries on Conan after asking him why hadn't he helped her sister.

On the way home, Haibara reveals to Conan that she was a former member of the Black Organization, with the code name Sherry, and the one who created the drug that shrank both of them. This makes Conan extremely furious. She also reveals that she accidentally sent a floppy disk containing data on the Black Organization to her older sister, which is now in the possession of her sister's professor, Masami Hirota. Agasa takes Conan and Haibara there to retrieve the disk, only to realize that Hirota has been murdered. The suspects are Hirota's three students who visited that day. Conan reveals the culprit to be a man named Akira Shirakura; Shirakura after bludgeoning Hirota to death tied the answering machine cassette tape around the key to the room which rewound when a call was made and subsequently bringing the key into the room. As evidence, Conan reveals that Shirakura's fingerprints should be found on the tape. When the case is over, Haibara breaks down and asks Conan why he could not save her sister, Akemi, from the Black Organization. Later that day, Haibara attempts to read the files off the disk. However, it has been protected with the Night Baron virus, which deletes all the data whenever the disk is accessed from a computer that does not belong to the Organization.

Runaway operative Numabuchi

In episode 118, Conan encounters a member named Numabuchi who had run away from the Black Organization and was killing in civilians out of paranoia. He tries to stab Ran, but Conan blocks the knife instead. Mitsuhiko actually has an individual encounter with the runaway Numabuchi in episode 290, but Conan and the police arrive before he's capable of doing anything to him.

The first head to head battle

File:Sherry shot 1.JPG

Shiho shot by Gin.

In episode 176-178, Conan encounters Gin and Vodka again. Haibara is kidnapped by Pisco and confined to a wine cellar, but she drinks baijiu to turn into an adult and escape up a chimney. Gin and Vodka intercept her on the roof and shoot her repeatedly until Conan appears. Conan shoots Gin with his needle, but Gin sdoesn't fall asleep. He tells Haibara to jump into the chimney, and Vodka shoots at her, but she gets away. Gin purposely shoots himself in the arm due to trying to stay awake. Inside, Pisco almost kills her, but Conan rescues her after Pisco accidentally causes a fire. Gin kills Pisco for failure before he's able to tell him the truth about Shiho. Haibara decides to leave the city, Worried that the organization is after her, after which Conan implies that it will be alright for her to stay.

A new threat: Vermouth, and the carjacking incident

Aside from Gin and Vodka being the most recurring members, a female member introduced late into the series named Vermouth also starts to play a huge role in the series. She makes her first appearance in episodes 176-178, but her talents aren't revealed until episode 230. She disguises herself as a doctor named Araide and is one of the few characters that learns who Conan really is. In one episode she is saved by Ran and Shinichi from falling through a fire escape, and keeps his secret unknown from the rest possibly because of this reason. She disguises herself as two actresses, Chris Vineyard and Sharon Vineyard. It is noted several times in the series that she is a master of disguise, who trained with Shinichi's mother in the past.

Confrontation with Vodka

In episodes 309-311, Conan manages to arrange contact with Vodka of the organization, and goes to confront him in a trap, however, Gin arrives and realizes it's a set up. He and Vodka leave before Conan is able to find out more information about the Black Organization. Though, prior to the meeting, Conan does manage to obtain information from their original contact's diary that reveal a bit of the Black Organization's dark intentions.

The second head to head battle, and revealed allegiances

In episode 345, many identities are finally unveiled: Vermouth is revealed to be Dr. Araide, Chris Vineyard, Sharon Vineyard, and the silver-haired serial killer in Shinichi's New York Case; Jodie Saintemillion is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent working towards capturing Vermouth, who killed her father when she was younger; Shuich Akai is confirmed to be an FBI agent, and one with great skill too--enough to make the boss of the Black Organization believe that he is their Silver Bullet. Near the end of the episode, it becomes clear that Vermouth's purpose was to seek and eliminate Sherry, but her attempts are thwarted by several people: Shinichi/Conan, Jodie Saintemillion, Shuichi Akai, and even Ran. When she becomes cornered, she takes Conan hostage and drives away into a forest. There, she sends a text message to her boss (still nameless), and to her surprise, Conan was recording the sound of the boss' number being dialed. In order to preserve the organization's secrecy, she sprays sleeping gas in the car, putting both herself and Conan to sleep. She claims that this would be a duel--whoever wakes up first will win. Vermouth does indeed wake up first, but does not kill Conan. Instead, she just crushes his recording device. Ultimately, the only clue Conan gained from this whole ordeal is the phone number that the boss uses; this is mentioned in episode 425 as well.

In Episode 394, Conan figures out the boss' number, but Haibara warns him not to call it because it is "Pandora's Box", Conan then thinks he can get Detective Takagi to figure out who the number belongs to. But then Haibara warns if he does, Detective Takagi will be killed.

Although Vermouth often comes off as evil and malicious, her allegiance is rather ambiguous. She chooses to protect both Conan/Shinichi and Ran, most likely because they let her live back in the New York Case when she was disguised as the silver-haired serial killer. At the end of the episode, she could have very well killed Shinichi, but instead she lets him live and even drapes her coat over his sleeping body so he wouldn't get cold. She even kept her promise with Shinichi to stop her attempt on killing Sherry. For some reason, she seems to wish for the Black Organization to be taken down as well--for she believes that Shinichi Kudo is their true Silver Bullet.

The third head to head battle, and three new threats

Black Organization´s members.

In episode 425, the Black Organization introduces three new members, Chianti, Kir, and Korn, who first make their introduction in the 16th Opening episodes before their actual appearance in the series. Episode 425 is also the first to show the most Black Organization members in one episode. Chianti and Korn are introduced in the very beginning of episode 425 as highly trained assassins that Gin recruits after seeing their sniping skills. Kir is first introduced to Conan and the others as a news reporter (Rena Mizunashi) and a friend of Yoko Okino's, however, she is revealed as a member of the black corps later on. After encountering FBI during her mission, Kir tries to flee, but gets knocked unconscious and crashes, resulting in her getting taken by the FBI agents. In the manga, Heiji Hattori mentions she has been seen in Osaka before.

Eisuke Hondou, and the captured Kir

In episodes 462-465, the Black Organization reveals some information about Kir and Eisuke's father. Eisuke appears to be linked to the Black Organization, as Conan notices similarities between him and Kir, and he also appears to be gaining info on the secret behind Kogoro's cases. In addition, Vermouth is revealed to be linked to another murder case. In the following episode 466, Conan tells Haibara and Agasa that the boy involved in the previous case told a mysterious man (unknown, but sometimes thought to be Rikumichi Kusuda, as they have the same outer appearance, though, his face is shadowed) that he had seen Kir before.

In episodes 484-485, Conan investigates more on Eisuke and belief that he and his father may have a possible link to Rena Mizunashi and the Black Organization. This later leads to further investigations in episode 491-494 with a possibility that Eisuke and Rena are related when they watch a video tape from years ago.

Subaru Okiya, and "Bourbon"

Jodie calls Conan and tells him that she changed her number and cell phone. She also mentions that Rena Mizunashi reported a new member of the Black Organization (Code name: Bourbon) is investigating about Sherry (Ai Haibara). As Conan and Haibara investigate a normal case, Haibara feels that an organization member is around. The organization member which she felt is implied to be one of the innocent suspects, Subaru Okiya. Conan invites Okiya to live in the Kudo's house since Okiya's apartment was burnt. Okiya appears in other cases later on, including at the Haido mall where the rest of the Black Organization gathered to chase a rumored sighting of a scarred Shuichi Akai. In chapter 823, Bourbon is confirmed to be Tooru Amuro and Okiya to be Shuichi Akai.

Manga to anime differences

The first season of Detective Conan rarely featured the Black Organization because the anime writers wanted to downplay their presence. Two of the episodes at least, were altered heavily in light of this:

• Episode 5, The Shinkansen's Bomb Case: The episode replaces the two men who shrunk Conan with lookalikes unrelated to the Black Organization. In the manga version of this case, Conan runs into the real pair and learns their code names (Gin/Vodka in the Japanese Version, Melkior and Kaspar in the English Version). Their replacement creates a continuity error in Episode 54, Game Company Murder Case. Conan recognizes their code names when Tequila speaks to them, yet Conan never learned their code names in the anime version of events.

• Episode 13, The Strange Person Hunt Murder Case: At the end of the episode, Masami Hirota meets with the criminal in charge the recent murders. She survives a gunshot wound thanks to Conan. In the manga version, which is in Volume 2, the masterminds are Gin and Vodka.
  Masami is actually Akemi Miyano, and stole the money to buy her sister out of the organization. Upon refusal to give the money's location to Gin, he shoots her. Conan arrives shortly after, and tries to help Akemi. He gives her his real name, and before dying she tells Conan the location of the money and that the organization who killed her wears black like crows. The anime had to do a similar story in Episode 128, The Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery Case, in order to repair the storyline because Akemi's death is what prompted Shiho Miyano to defect from the Organization.

Relation to the Organization from Magic Kaito

See also: Magic Kaito Organization

It is questionable if the Detective Conan's Black Organization and Magic Kaito's unnamed organization are the same organization. The member of the magic Kaito organization that claimed responsibility for killing Toichi eight years ago is referred to as "Snake", a nickname that doesn't fit in with the codenames of the Black Organization, suggesting they are two separate groups. This though may not be the case if Snake refers to Snake Wine, but because Kaitou Kid's origins have yet to be reexplained within the Detective Conan story, this is only speculation.

Additionally the members of the Magic Kaito Organization are looking for a magical gem called Pandora. The magical nature of Magic Kaito and its organization's search does not mesh with the non-magical setting of Detective Conan.

Trivia

• According to the English-language Case Closed Volume 1: The Secret Life of Shinichi Kudo, Gin's real name is "Melkior" and Vodka's real name is "Kaspar". In the English manga, these are explained as specific brands of the relevant drinks.

• Members seem to get along fairly well most of the time. Gin and Vodka have a particularly close rapport. Gin is annoyed by Vermouth's teasing, but when on business they seem to get along alright. Chianti holds a hateful grudge against Vermouth because she believes Vermouth led Calvados to his death, indicating that Chianti has some sort of relationship with the deceased agent. Korn appears to be anti-social.

• Vermouth is the only living member of the organization who learned that Ai Haibara is Shiho Miyano and Conan Edogawa is Shinichi Kudo. Pisco also knew Haibara's identity, and unlike Vermouth, would've revealed it to Gin if he hadn't been murdered by him first. Conan told Akemi Miyano his real name as she died.

• According to the Black Organization only the "Silver Bullet" can defeat/kill them, Vermouth believes that Conan/Shinichi is their "Silver Bullet". However everyone else thinks Akai is their greatest threat.
• So far, the youngest member still in the Black Organization is revealed to be Kir at age 27. Sherry is actually much younger, as her age was revealed to be 18, and her sister is in her early twenties.

• Episode 129 indicates that the organization has numerous members. Later episode 502 shows that these members can include old members in their 70's or 80's. Episode 557 also shows that the organization has access to a large quantity of weapons and sends a large amount of its members depending on the mission.

• Episodes 462-465 marks the first 4-part episode dealing with the Black Organization without it being aired as a special (However, international airings outside Japan have separated each 2 hour special dealing with the Black Organization into six separate parts).

• Episodes 491-504 marks the longest Black Organization arc to ever air, consisting of more than ten parts.

• During the course of the series, almost every member had some kind of individual contact with Conan/Shinichi; Gin in the episode 1, manga chapter 33 on the bullet train, and episode 178 when Conan shoots him with his needle while hiding, Vodka in manga chapter 33 on the bullet train and during the course of episodes 309-311, Vermouth in episode 345 and while she was disguised as Araide, Kir in episode 425, Akemi Miyano in manga chapters 13-16/episode 128, Pisco in episode 178, Tequila in episode 54, Ki'ichiro Numabuchi in episode 118 and briefly in 290, and Rikumichi Kusuda in episodes 496-497.

See also

• Characters
• APTX4869
• Nanatsu no ko

In other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	黒の組織 Kuro no soshiki
English	Black Organization
Catalan	Organització dels Homes de Negre
Bahasa	Organisasi Hitam
German	Die Schwarze Organisation
French	L’Organisation des Hommes en Noir
Italian	L'Organizzazione degli Uomini in Nero
Spanish	La Organización de los Hombres de Negro
Vietnamese	Tổ chức Áo đen
Arabic	المنظمة السوداء Al-Munadama Al-Sowda
Finnish	Musta Organisaatio
Thai	องค์กรชุดดำ
Chinese	黑衣组织 Hēi'yī Zǔzhī
Korean	검은조직 Geom-eunjojig