Zakk Irius is the mafia field agent who actually completes the Death Note exchange at the center of Mello’s Sayu Yagami kidnapping — meeting Soichiro Yagami in person to trade the notebook for Sayu’s life. His success hands Mello’s syndicate a Death Note of its own and turns the second half of the series into a three-way race between the Task Force, the SPK, and the mafia.
A middle-aged Western man with neatly styled, light-colored hair and rectangular dark-rimmed glasses, clean-shaven and consistently dressed in formal business attire — a look built specifically to blend into an airport crowd.
Professional, composed, and efficient under pressure, following Mello’s instructions to the letter even during a high-stakes exchange involving a God of Death’s notebook. That same professionalism — staying in plain sight at a major airport — is exactly what makes him identifiable to elite detectives.
In October 2009, Irius is sent to meet Soichiro Yagami and complete the trade of a Death Note for Sayu’s release, successfully securing the notebook and confirming its power. Near later pulls his identity from Narita Airport surveillance footage, spelling out his name letter by letter for the Task Force. Once Light has that identification, he uses FBI data to track down the rest of the syndicate — and on November 10, 2009, writes every identified member’s name in the Death Note at once. Irius dies of a heart attack along with the entire leadership.
Major: Ch. 63, 64.
Minor: Ch. 69.
Mentioned only: Ch. 71.
Mello
His boss. Irius is a trusted, capable field agent handed Mello’s most sensitive assignments.
Soichiro Yagami
His direct counterpart in the exchange — a high-stakes, one-time meeting with no real relationship beyond the trade itself.
Near
The detective who identifies him from airport footage, setting his death in motion.
- Near spells out his full name letter by letter to emphasize the precision of his surveillance analysis.
- His identification is the first major breakthrough Near shares with Light (acting as the “New L”) during the syndicate investigation.
- He dies at exactly 11:59 PM — the precise time Light specified for the mass execution of the mafia.
🇺🇸 English Voice Actors
Drummond, Brian
🇺🇸 English