Irie began his career as a yakuza when he joined the Fukui-gumi, a Yamaguchi affiliate based in Osaka. He later joined the Takumi-gumi in 1978 when Masaru Takumi, then the number-two member (wakagashira) of the Fukui-gumi, became an executive underboss (jikisan) of the 3rd Yamaguchi-gumi. Prior to this he was the head of his own clan, the Irie-gumi, which he formed in 1975, but following this he merged it into the Takumi-gumi.[1]
He was known for his unwavering loyalty to Masaru Takumi; he had been offered the Yamaguchi-gumi's executive position several times, but he repeatedly declined, preferring to be Takumi's henchman.[1] In 1997 when Takumi was assassinated by the Nakano-kai, he succeeded as the head of the Takumi-gumi,[3] retaliating ruthlessly against the Nakano-kai.[1]
He entered the Kobe headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi in 1997 when he became the head of the Takumi-gumi. He was promoted to wakagashira-hosa (one of the number-three underbosses) in 2005,[1] and following the start of the sixth era headed by Shinobu Tsukasa from the Kodo-kai of Nagoya, he attained the de facto number-three position (so-honbucho).[4]
He has been involved in the Yamaguchi-gumi's important yakuza wars such as the Osaka War (1975–1978, against the Matsuda-gumi) and Yama-Ichi War (1984–1989, against the Ichiwa-kai).[1]
On December 1, 2010 — just 2 weeks after the arrest of the "number-two of the Yamaguchi-gumi" Kiyoshi Takayama[5] —, Irie, as the "number-three of the Yamaguchi-gumi",[2] was arrested on suspicion of compensating the relatives of a hitman (a member of the Takumi-gumi[6]) who had been jailed for murdering a senior member of the Nakano-kai.[7] He was charged with paying 3.9 million yen ($46,555) to the hitman's relatives,[3] whom he had paid a total of at least approximately US$250,000.[8] He was released on bail on December 24 of that year,[9] and received a jail sentence of 10 months in March 2011.[6]