Old question about Lupin series...

Zainou86 said:
The answer to this question is two-fold:

1) Throughout his many escapades, Lupin has stolen undescribable national monuments, priceless treasures, the government held secrets and other such items. This could be why he has it in the anime, although within the manga's canon, Lupin is a ruthless murderer and rapist as well as being a thief, so it's most likely simply a holdover (seeing as one of his best stories, that involved the death penalty was later adapted in Part I). Lupin was also created in the 60s when the death penalty was legal in Japan for murder.

2) But the real answer to this question is most likely that Monkey Punch probably just thought it would be an interesting thing to tell stories about.