China sentences notorious gang kingpin to death

Apr 18 2002

BEIJING  - China has sentenced to death a mafia kingpin who ensnared city hall and top Communist Party officials in the northeastern industrial hub of Shenyang in a huge graft scandal, state media reported on Thursday.

A Liaoning province court handed down the sentence to gang leader and former city official Liu Yong on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

 The court also fined Liu 15 million yuan ($1.81 million) for property damage, illegal business operations, bribery, possession of guns and obstruction of justice, it said.

 One of Liu's henchmen received the death penalty while 20 others, including several former policemen, were jailed for varying lengths of time, Xinhua said.

 Liu, a Communist Party member and a legislator in Shenyang's parliament, ran roughshod over China's fifth largest city for a decade, hiring policemen to torture rivals and pummel shopkeepers who refused to surrender their property.

 His gang used threats, beatings, arson and vandalism to scare off vendors from real estate he sought to develop, and blackmailed officials.

 He became the subject of a police manhunt after he pistol-whipped a top police officer in 1992 but managed to bribe his way out of trouble.

 Shenyang police ended his gang's crime spree in a July 2000 raid, arresting more than 50 suspects. They also were charged with crimes such as "membership of an underworld organisation", assault, blackmail and tax evasion.

 Liu's arrest led to the downfall of dozens of Shenyang officials last year for bribe-taking and other offences.

 Former Shenyang mayor Mu Suixin was handed a suspended death sentence and vice-mayor Ma Xiangdong, convicted for gambling millions of dollars in public funds in Macau, was executed in December.

 The sensational case highlighted China's problems with rampant corruption, which President and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin has said risks undermining support for the party.