Chinese mafia boss sentenced to death, as strike hard campaign rolls on

BEIJING, July 19 (AFP) - Four ring leaders of a mafiaoso gang in southwestern Sichuan province have been sentenced to death as China's top law enforcement official urged police nationwide to step up a three-year old "strike hard" campaign against crime, state press reports said Saturday.

The four ring leaders were among 35 people convicted in the biggest organized crime case to hit populous Sichuan province in recent history, the Huaxi Metropolitan Daily said.

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Their sentences were read out Friday by the intermediate court of Mianyang city with alleged ring leader Zhao Xiaodong and two of his lieutenants sentenced to death and a third convicted ring leader given the death penalty with two years reprieve, the paper said.

Following the verdict, Xinhua news agency reported that China's top law enforcement official Luo Gan has announced that an ongoing three-year "strike hard" campaign against organized crime had proven effective and would continue.

"Various types of criminal offenses are re-emerging recently and this calls for a continuation of the 'strike-hard' policy," Luo was quoted as saying.

In the Mianyang mafia case 35 people, including four policemen, were convicted for opening up illegal gambling dens in legitimately operated tea houses in Sichuan province and the neighboring Tibetan Autonomous Region since 1997, the reports said.

Convicted policeman Huang Zhengdong, was the head of Jiangyou city's "strike hard" police team that was tied to the nationwide campaign and was convicted of providing protection to the gang, obstructing a police investigation and accepting 150,000 yuan (18,000 dollars) in bribes.

Huang who in the end cooperated with police was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Members of the gang were also convicted of several murders and premeditated assaults against gamblers that either failed to pay up or who were suspected of reporting the illegal gambling activities to local police.

Other charges included illegally buying and selling firearms and ammunition, bribery, and commercial fraud.

In a separate case, Ma Xin, a Beijing man, was sentenced to death by the Beijing intermediate court on Friday for counterfeiting official corporate stamps and financial documents, Xinhua said in a separate report.

Three others were sentenced to death in May for their roles in the 170 million yuan (20.5 million dollars) scam that used fake seals from the Capital Iron and Steel Company to swindle bank transfers from leading Chinese banks.

China liberally uses the death penalty in its court rulings, but keeps the number of executions a closely guarded state secret.

According to "Disidai", a recent book purportedly by a high-placed government source and published in the United States, China has executed up to 15,000 people a year during its three-year old "strike hard" campaign against crime.

sai/bro

China-crime