Black Organization

"That's right, all links are to be destroyed. This is how they do things. You understand now right? That our identities cannot be found out by anyone."

- Ai Haibara warning Conan Edogawa on how dangerous the Black Organization is, Episode 178

The Black Organization (黒の組織) is a Secret Criminal Syndicate in Tokyo, Japan with a hidden objective, tasked with committing various crimes to maintain its secrecy, remove obstacles and gather funding and resources for its mysterious research projects.

The mysterious Boss of the Black Organization, who directs the activities and advance the interests of the syndicate, gives his highest ranking subordinates their respective Codenames based on Alcoholic Beverages.

Background
At some point in time, Renya Karasuma founded the Black Organization and has been developing their main research project, which APTX 4869 will eventually become, for at least 50 years.

30 years ago prior to the current timeline, Atsushi Miyano and Elena Miyano were hired through the shady Karasuma Group and started to work for the Black Organization, eventually developing the Silver Bullet.

20 years ago prior the the current timeline, while studying for an acting role, Vermouth, under the guise of the American Actress Sharon Vineyard, learned the art of disguise from the Famous Magician Toichi Kuroba alongside the aspiring young Japanese Actress Yukiko Kudo. Months later, Vermouth murdered Jodie Starling's Father and burned the Starling Mansion down to destroy the FBI Investigative Files on her. A young Jodie Starling, who has managed to escape the fire, was then placed in the FBI's Witness Protection Program and later became an FBI Agent in her Father's Footsteps in hopes of bringing justice to her Family's Death and causing havoc to the Black Organization.

17 years ago prior to the current timeline, a famous Shogi Player named Kohji Haneda and a wealthy American Investor named Amanda Hughes who had both contacts with the FBI and CIA were found dead in their respective hotel rooms. Kohji managed to leave a mysterious dying message that may indicate the involvement of a Black Organization Member. The deaths of Kohji and Amanda then resulted the disappearances of Asaka, Amanda's Bodyguard and Tsutomu Akai, an MI6 Agent tasked to investigate Kohji's death. Gin once commented about Rum's mistake 17 years ago, implying Rum's involvement in the case.

Five years prior to the current timeline, FBI Agent Shuichi Akai went to Japan and infiltrated the Black Organization using the alias "Dai Moroboshi". He dated Akemi Miyano, one of their low-ranking members, in order to meet Shiho Miyano and use her influence to get into the Black Organization. In time, Shuichi would have distinguished himself as a remarkable member of the mysterious syndicate, enough to be recognized by the Boss of the Black Organization. Shuichi eventually received the Codename "Rye" and was called to work under Executive Agent Gin.

Four years prior to the current timeline, CIA Agent Ethan Hondou was sent to infiltrate the Black Organization. Ethan's Daughter, Hidemi Hondou, follows her own Father's Footsteps and eventually became a fully fledged CIA Agent. She adopts the alias "Rena Mizunashi" and temporarily joins the Black Organization to introduce a New Middleman for Ethan after the previous one was killed. Upon joining the Black Organization, Hidemi become a Television Announcer of Nichiuri TV to suit the interests of the mysterious criminal syndicate. Hidemi Hondou was supposed to fake her death after introducing the New Middleman to Ethan in order to leave the organization. However, a tracker was planted on Hidemi's Clothing which led the Black Organization to Ethan and Hidemi's Rendezvous Location. Ethan, who had anticipated something like this could happen, prepared in advance a setup that would allow Hidemi to maintain his cover in the Black Organization. Before committing suicide, Ethan told her not to give up and to complete the CIA Mission in his stead. He left a recording of an interrogation, bit his own wrist and shot Hidemi's Clothing to imply that a struggle had took place. Ethan then explained to Hidemi what to say to the Black Organization regarding the incident. He told her to pretend that Ethan had interrogated her and that Hidemi had bit his wrist, grabbed his gun and killed him. A few moments later, Hidemi leaves and Barney arrives at the scene, witnessing the corpse of Ethan who had recently committed suicide. Gin and Vodka also arrive and observe the grieving Barney who repeatedly says the name "Hondou". Knowing that he had been cornered, Barney also committed suicide to prevent the Black Organization from capturing a CIA Agent. Soon after, Gin and Vodka reported the incident to the Black Organization and the Boss believed Hidemi's Story. In recognition of his remarkable loyalty and sheer savageness, the Boss promoted her to a Codenamed Agent and gave her the Codename "Kir".

At some point in time prior to the current timeline, the National Police Agency, or namely its Security Bureau, learned of the existence of the Black Organization. Rei Furuya, using the alias Tooru Amuro, and Hiromitsu Morofushi from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Public Security Bureau decided to infiltrate the Black Organization. After distinguishing themselves in an unknown fashion, the Boss recognized their remarkable capabilities and promoted them to Codenamed Agents. Rei became "Bourbon" and Hiromitsu became "Scotch". Eventually, Scotch's Identity as a spy was found out by the Black Organization. When he was confronted by Shuichi Akai, who was also infiltrating the organization on behalf of the FBI at the same time, Scotch attempted to steal Shuichi's Gun to commit suicide and destroy his phone which contains sensitive data, but was stopped as Shuichi revealed his true affiliation to him. However, at that moment, a worried Bourbon quickly arrived at the scene and Scotch mistook his ally's approaching footsteps for those of a Black Organization Member. He then pulled the trigger and shot himself along with the phone. Shuichi, not knowing of Bourbon's Identity at the time, picked up the gun and made it look like he had killed Scotch himself. As a result, Rei hated Shuichi and the FBI generally and hoped that they would leave Japan altogether.

Two years ago prior to the current timeline, the FBI laid a trap hoping to capture Gin at a warehouse where the meeting between him and Shuichi Akai was supposed to take place, but because FBI Agent Andre Camel mistakenly revealed himself, the Black Organization discovered Shuichi's True Allegiance and Gin never appeared. Meanwhile, Tequila shows up at the office of Computer Graphics Designer Suguru Itakura to tell him that he was interested in a particular “System Program” that Suguru stopped developing one year ago.

One year ago prior to the current timeline, Vermouth tried to lure out and kill Shuichi Akai in New York City while disguised as a serial killer. However, she failed to execute her assassination plot and her attempts to murder Shuichi left her injured. As Vermouth flees, she runs into Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri on a fire escape stairway and accidentally slips off from the stairs. She was then saved by the two teens from falling to her death and since then, Vermouth came to regard them as "treasures" of her life. She eventually nicknames Shinichi as "Cool Guy" and Ran as "Angel" for showing her kindness and gratitude that none has ever showed her before.

Months prior to the current timeline, Vermouth contacted Suguru Itakura and gave him a forced one year deadline to finish the particular "System Program" that Tequila was interested in. Meanwhile, American Actress Sharon Vineyard was reported to have "died", prompting her "daughter" Chris Vineyard to appear in public for the very first time.

Activities
The Black Organization commits a variety of crimes such as blackmail, contract assassinations, illegal deals, and robberies to advance their interests. Furthermore, the Black Organization also cultivates clients, sponsors and recruits outside talent by sending its members to business meetings who use mafia-like tactics to intimidate desirable civilians into making legal or illegal deals with them.

Besides their financially motivated crimes, the Black Organization also engages in other stereotypical criminal activities like bribery, spying, and eliminates threats or former partners without hesitation who are deemed useless or a risk.

In addition, the Black Organization is highly secretive, eliminating anyone who has knowledge of their existence and anyone who threatens to expose their hidden agendas. According to Ai Haibara, remaining unknown seems to be a higher priority than even research and the Black Organization often destroys evidence via fire or explosion. Ai Haibara has also warned Conan Edogawa that the Black Organization will not hesitate to kill family and friends of a target to protect their secrets and their own existence.

Customs
The Black 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. They will dispose of even Executive Agents 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 syndicate 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 Black 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 Members with the exception of the Boss use Codenames based on Alcoholic Beverages: Hard Liquors for men and Wine or Wine-Based Cocktails for women. The syndicate 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 which is a prototype name for Sherlock Holmes, a computer virus called Night Baron named after a character from Yusaku Kudo's mystery novels, and mission codenames relating to the novel "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

Crimes
The Black Organization conducts its crimes in ways that are difficult to trace back to them. Handguns, sniping, fire and bombs, and poisons seem to be their preferred techniques. Sometimes, the syndicate 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 usually attempt to destroy any evidence using fire or explosives to make it difficult to investigate. Sometimes, they also 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 thoroughly destroys the area before it can be investigated properly.

Hideouts
The Black Organization seems to have hideouts. However, 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 Pisco who was a Car Company CEO, Vermouth who works as a Famous Actress; and Kir who is currently a Nichiuri TV Announcer, giving the syndicate connections to the elite and access to otherwise unavailable locations.

So far, the Black Organization has met clients in an isolated area of an amusement park, a Shinkansen's dining car, a dim restaurant, a crowded wake, and a train station under construction. The syndicate also conducts business and meetings at the shipping yard and warehouses. A few abodes of the Black Organization Members have been shown, but they range in extravagance from Kir's relatively plain apartment to Vermouth's lavish penthouse.

Personnel
The Black Organization is large enough to quickly dispatch field investigative teams of at least a dozen members. The members of the syndicate are also demographically varied, including foreigners and natives, men and women, young and elderly.

Individually, the Black Organization's upper echelon are typically intelligent and often multitalented. So far, at least all Executive Agents are shown to carry guns and wear body armor under their clothing while dispatched. Many members are also skilled at using disguise and firearms.

Both Gin and Vermouth were shown to be resistant to Conan's tranquilizer needle, knockout gas and subsequently shot themselves in order to stay awake. This may indicate that they have underwent specialized training to resist knockout effects and increase pain tolerance.

Resources
The Black Organization is technologically sophisticated and their equipment rivals even that of Professor Hiroshi Agasa's. They have access to a wide variety of firearms and ammunition, vehicles, theatrical supplies, and large amounts of various explosives. The syndicate's arsenal also includes various specialized gadgets.

Drug Development
The Black Organization has a long history of biochemistry research. When the Karasuma Group recruited Atsushi Miyano and Elena Miyano to work on a research for them, the two scientists eventually developed a project they called Silver Bullet. Not long after, the two died in a mysterious accident and their daughter, Shiho Miyano, took over research on the APTX 4869 Project. Although APTX 4869 was being developed for another, still secret purpose, the Black Organization is currently using the incomplete prototype as an untraceable, lethal poison.

The syndicate's data for APTX 4869 contains important secrets. One floppy disk that Haibara and Conan tried to retrieve had real names, addresses, codenames of agents, and the namse of the people who invested money for the research. Haibara made a copy of some of the APTX 4869 data when she was locked in a room with Pisco's Computer, but then lied to Conan about losing it.

APTX 4869
Apotoxin 4869 (四八六九), abbreviated as APTX 4869 and nicknamed as Prototype Detective by the Black Organization, is an enigmatic drug of unknown purpose and derivative of an experimental formula developed by Shiho Miyano. APTX 4869 is currently utilized as an untraceable, lethal poison.

Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet (シルバーブレット) is an enigmatic drug of unknown purpose developed by Atsushi Miyano and Elena Miyano.

Software Development
The Black Organization's research also requires the skills of world class programmers. The syndicate is known to be involved with computer viruses such as Night Baron. However, the main purpose of their computer science research may be something other than malwares and related to their biochemistry research.

Night Baron
Night Baron (闇の男爵) is an enigmatic virus programmed to protect sensitive data of the Black Organization.

Suguru Itakura's Program
Suguru Itakura's Program is an enigmatic and incomplete system software developed by Suguru Itakura after being blackmailed by Tequila and Vermouth. The contents of Suguru Itakura's Program are currently unknown. However, its intended purpose prompted Itakura to stop developing it for "the sake of humanity".

Members
{| style="width: 100%; margin-top: 1em;" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="2" ! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Boss ! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Second-In-Command

! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Executive Agents ! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Codenamed Agents ! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Agents ! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Undercover Agents

! style="margin: 0; background-color:#1b64aa; background-image:-moz-linear-gradient(top, ##004C73 25%, #0a1233 75%); background-image:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(25%, #004C73), color-stop(75%, #0a1233)); border:1px solid #00ffff; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; color:white; padding:5px;" |Former Agents

Roller Coaster Murder Case
Gin goes to Tropical Land with Vodka to complete a transaction with a company owner whom they were blackmailing for arms trafficking. The two board the Mystery Coaster before the meeting to observe from the pinnacle of the coaster if the businessman had come alone to the meeting spot below the Ferris Wheel. However, a murder occurs on the ride, forcing the two to remain at the scene as suspects. Anticipating that the police may hinder their transaction, Gin yells at Shinichi Kudo and Inspector Juzo Megure several times to hurry up and let them go. Shinichi then observes that Gin has the appearance and air of a cold-blooded killer. Eventually, they were released after Shinichi reveals and apprehends the culprit behind the murder.

Gin and Vodka's suspicious actions caused Shinichi to follow and encounter them completing the transaction with the businessman. Gin, who seems to have been keeping watch, knocks down Shinichi with a pipe he found and force-feeds him APTX 4869, shrinking him into Conan Edogawa.

¥1,000,000,000 Robbery
Before the current storyline, FBI Agent Shuichi Akai dated Akemi Miyano, the older sister of Shiho Miyano, in order to infiltrate the Black Organization. Akai's true allegiance was discovered later and he was expelled from the criminal syndicate. Initially, the Black Organization could not do anything to Akemi since they needed the loyalty of Shiho Miyano, who was very valuable as the lead researcher of the APTX 4869 Project.

Two years later, the Black Organization decided that the risk of her contact with Akai was too much. They decided to create a situation where they could eliminate her by having her do a bank heist that she was supposed to fail and Gin was put in charge of making a deal with her. Akemi Miyano was then told that the only way that she and her sister would be allowed to leave the Black Organization was to successfully pull off a 10 billion yen bank robbery.

After successfully completing the heist and tricking her into accidentally poisoning one of her colleagues, she confronts Gin at the shipping yard to complete the transaction. She tries to tell Gin to hold up the end of his bargain. However, he tells her the syndicate would not let her Shiho leave anyway because she was too valuable. He then kills Akemi and flees the scene.

Bullet-Train Bombing
Gin and Vodka are tasked with eliminating a former business partner who had become a liability, by tricking her into a transaction involving of what she thinks is information about 400 million yen worth of gold. The pair are supposed to receive a large case of money from the client who will be given a black attaché containing of what she believes is the gold information. However, the case actually contains a bomb rigged to explode when she calls a certain number on her mobile phone.

Conan, who was also at the bullet-train at the time, almost walks into Gin's legs when the duo boards the Shinkansen. Vodka then yells at Conan and Gin glares coldly, but neither recognize him. It is much later revealed that Gin tends to forget the faces of those he killed. Eventually, Conan bugs their seats as soon as they leave to go to make the transaction. After they return with the suitcase full of the client's money, Conan learns their codenames and overhears Gin explain to Vodka the details of the bombing plan.

Gin and Vodka disembark at Nagoya to avoid being caught in the explosion. Conan decided to follow them, however, he is stopped by Ran Mouri from chasing them. Conan then turns his attention to finding the bomb and successfully ejects the black case from the train before it explodes. Unfortunately, the client knows little about Gin, Vodka or the Black Organization, thus the police are unable to do anything.

Game Convention Case
Tequila calls Vodka and tells him to inform Gin that the briefcase exchange with Hideaki Nakajima for the list of the world's best programmers was successful. However, unknown to Tequila, Nakajima's co-worker placed a bomb inside his colleague's briefcase with the intention of killing Nakajima. When Tequila opens the briefcase, the explosion kills him.

Later, when Conan solves the case and demands Nakajima to reveal where he met with Tequila, Hideaki confesses that they met at the bar "Le Cocktail: in a black building in Beika. Although Conan rushes to the building as soon as he learns of it, the Black Organization destroys the bar to destroy any evidence of their presence.

Missing Older Brother Case
In opposition to the unjustified murder of Akemi Miyano, Shiho Miyano decided to boycott APTX 4869's development. Gin and Vodka then pulls Shiho from her lab and handcuffs her to a pipe in a gas chamber to await the Boss' judgment.

In an attempt to commit suicide, Shiho takes APTX 4869 but shrinks into a child instead. She then escapes through the gas chamber's rubbish chute. When Gin and Vodka return, the duo finds out that renegade scientist had escaped their clutches. The Black Organization is then ordered to search and murder the rebel scientist.

The Professor eventually finds and adopts Shiho, learning that she was the former Black Organization Member "Sherry" who created and developed APTX 4869, the drug which shrunk Shinichi into his child form. Although the Professor thought of telling Shinichi that he had found APTX 4869’s Creator, Shiho insisted to the Professor to keep everything that happened as a secret as she wanted to tell Shinichi everything about her personally. It is from that moment where she adopts the alias "Ai Haibara".

Later, Haibara would enroll at Teitan Elementary School and join the Detective Boys. When Conan walked Haibara home, Haibara revealed his identity as the Black Organization Member "Sherry" and claimed that she is currently holding the Professor captive. Conan then rushes to the Professor out of worry, only to find out that he was being pranked. Despite being a defector of the syndicate, Conan still protests to the Professor about Haibara's presence, claiming that she could involve and bring harm to those associated with her.

Haibara then explains her story of defecting and reveals that months ago, the Black Organization had inspected the Kudo Residence twice. She also mentions that during one of her APTX 4869 trials, one of the lab mice who took the drug did not die but shrunk instead. Upon finding out that Shinichi's childhood clothes disappeared on their second visit, Haibara suspects that Shinichi survived and had shrunken into a child. Nonetheless, she still confirms Shinichi's death in the APTX 4869 Victim List.

Haibara also reveals that back from the time where she took APTX 4869, she realized that only Shinichi would understand her situation since they are both victims shrunken by the enigmatic drug. Hence, the shrunken Shiho headed to Shinichi’s house where she is found by Professor Agasa, collapsed and exhausted in front of the Kudo Residence.

Osaka Serial Murder Case
During a visit to Osaka, Conan and Heiji Hattori get involved in a serial killer case. The dead and the suspects all attended the same driving school, along with infamous serial killer Ki'ichiro Numabuchi, who escaped from prison not long before. Conan then ends up with Inspector Goro Otaki, who helps in tracking down Numabuchi on Mt. Minoo outside Osaka.

Later, the police successfully arrests Numabuchi. However, he attempts to escape and stabs Conan in the process. Fortunately, Numabuchi stabbed the protection charm that Conan kept in his chest pocket, thus surviving the assault. It turns out that Numabuchi was involved in the accidental death of the father of the man behind this set of serial killings, and was intended to be the scapegoat because he already killed several others.

Trivia

 * The Black Organization is enshrouded in mystery, and even other unrelated case, is sometimes introduced with Crows.
 * The Japanese believe Crows carry souls to the beyond.
 * The Black Organization often calls someone who poses an existential threat to the group a Silver Bullet.
 * Vermouth believes that Shinichi Kudo is their true Silver Bullet.
 * Contrary to Vermouth's belief, everyone else believes that Shuichi Akai was their true Silver Bullet.
 * The Black Organization's known Oldest Member is Renya Karasuma, at age 140+.
 * The Black Organization's known Youngest Member is Kir, at age 27.
 * Sherry was the the Black Organization's known Youngest Member before she defected, at age 18.
 * Akemi Miyano, Bourbon, Chianti, Gin, Kir, Vermouth and Vodka's Anime Version Vehicles have Shinjuku (新宿) as their License Plate.
 * Gin and Vodka's Black Organization Codenames were changed to Melkior and Kaspar respectively in the English Anime.
 * Melkior and Kaspar were explained to be specific brands of both relevant drinks in the English Manga.
 * Vermouth is the only living Black Organization Member who knows that Ai Haibara is Shiho Miyano and Conan Edogawa is Shinichi Kudo.
 * Akemi Miyano knew that Conan Edogawa was Shinichi Kudo.
 * Pisco knew that Ai Haibara was Shiho Miyano.
 * Conan Edogawa has personally interacted with almost all current and former Black Organization Members including: Akemi Miyano, Rikumichi Kusuda, Ki'ichiro Numabuchi, Bourbon, Gin, Kir, Pisco, Rum, Rye, Sherry, Vodka, and Vermouth.
 * Episodes 462-465 is the first Black Organization Episode that was not aired as a special in Japan, consisting of four parts.
 * Episodes 491-504 is the longest Black Organization Arc to air, consisting of more than ten parts.