By staff reporter He Xin

(Caijing.com.cn) A court needed only 10 days to hear evidence before passing a death sentence for a key boss in Chongqing's underworld, Yang Tianqing, who was convicted of leading a crime organization and seven other major charges.

Yang, 35, was one of three gangsters to receive either a death sentence or a two-year suspended death sentence from among a group of about 30 people who, since mid-October, have been convicted at trials aimed at quashing a pernicious triad.

The trials are part of an extensive anti-triad campaign that's clearly not over in Chongqing, a sprawling metropolis where authorities have been battling local gangs for years. This time, more than 80 defendants were expected to face judges in a first round of trials, making it the most extensive criminal case ever for the Chongqing court system.

And authorities say this phase of the campaign is merely a prelude for what lies ahead.

A report by the Chongqing Municipal Government in mid-August said 1,544 criminals had been detained, including more than 100 core members of criminal organizations, while more than 1.53 billion yuan in assets have been frozen as part of the crackdown.

The names of a number of triad heavyweights have slowly come to light. They include Chen Mingliang, a local entertainment kingpin; Li Qiang, who controls more than 100 bus lines in the city; Chen Kunzhi, a slick financier; and Wang Tianlun, who oversees more than 70 percent of Chongqing's pork products industry.

A particularly sordid chapter in the unfolding tale involves Wen Qiang, who had served as deputy secretary for the Chongqing Public Security Bureau for 16 years. Wen and those he worked with are now believed to have been key providers of the official security web that protected the city's underworld.

Beginning with Yang's death sentence in the First Intermediate People's Court, crime gangs across the region and around China have been put on notice: Authorities are more serious than ever about combating triad activity.

Crime Cast

Yang led of group of nine gangsters tied to an eight-year string of crimes including four homicides, most recently a murder in June that was apparently meant as a warning to police after authorities started closing in.

One accomplice was Liu Zhongyong, who officials say started operating an unlicensed coal pit in 2006 and turned his focus to logistics two years later. Prosecutors say he used a group of "brothers" to intimidate and force operators of other small coal pits to sell him materials at low prices.

Also on trial was Xie Caiping, 46, who entered the courtroom handcuffed but with a new hairdo to face charges tied to a triad-related gambling syndicate spanning April-August 2008. Her lover, 20 years her junior, was tried as well.

Prosecutors said Xie worked an illegal casino whose customers played with minimum stakes of 20,000 yuan. At the peak, each casino "shareholder" earned up to 30,000 yuan a night. The operation also had a security force that tracked police activity and watched the casino's country club-like compound.

One casino worker told the judge she simply needed a job to make ends meet. But later she admitted driving an Audi.

Xie's gambling operation offered high-interest loans, charging 5 percent a day. In July 2008, an overdue borrower who owed more than 400,000 yuan was beaten. Loan-sharking profits were used to buy drugs for casino clients.

The Chongqing Daily recently described Xie's slick ability to dodge arrest. In August 2008, a security team member at her illegal casino "arrested" an investigating police inspector and beat him.

Wen Qiang

Subsequently, Xie was listed as a wanted criminal. But she made no efforts to lay low. Rather, she made multiple demands to a special police task force about her "terms of surrender."

This and other incidents earned Xie a sharp chastisement from the top in the form of comments by Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Bo Xilai, who is the current party secretary of Chongqing.

"Xie Caiping placed the illegal operation of a casino within a five-star hotel, earning massive profits from vice," said Bao, who is also a member of the People's Congress Central Political Committee and Chongqing Municipal Party Committee.

"This kind of behavior wouldn't have been tolerated even under the Qing Dynasty."

Police Collaboration

The last time triad-related activity rocked Chongqing was in 2000. That October, a police officer investigating an illegal casino was murdered, sparking a probe that uncovered widespread collusion between law enforcement and organized crime.

Eventually, a number of core gang members and high-ranking officials were convicted and jailed. But triad operators did not disappear.

Li Qiang

"The facts prove that after the last round of crackdowns, triad-related activities are still going strong, and there are still police protecting them," said Chen Zhonglin, law school dean at Chongqing University.

Xie's case raised additional questions about the nature of police-crime gang complicity. Her husband is Wen Bin, whose elder brother Wen Qiang was the top Chongqing police official disgraced and brought to trial.

Wen's name was at the top of a triad-activity flow chart released in mid-September by the Chongqing security bureau. Just below his name was Huang Daiqiang, deputy director of the bureau's criminal police force, along with four more "dukes of crime" who protected Xie and other criminal operations.

When the hearings begin, the Chongqing Daily reported Wen's wife had bought into the gambling operation, and that a former municipal security bureau deputy director Peng Changjian -- while serving as director of the Yuzhong District security bureau – had instructed his staff not to investigate the operation.

Peng in early September was detained by the Chongqing Communist Party's City Discipline Inspection Commission under the system of "shuanggui," or double regulation, which puts accused officials under party as well as judicial jurisdiction.

Neither Wen nor any other senior officials attended the most recent trials. Standing in for him was Guo Sheng, a police station deputy director, and an officer named Gan Yong. They're accused of accepting bribes totaling 180,000 yuan -- 60,000 per month between May and July 2008 – while working for the triads on the police force.

Guo said at least half the bribes were shared among members of a security department, patrol detachment, the station director, instructors and other personnel. An indictment said more than 10 people accepted bribes, although it doesn't say what happened to most of the accused officers.

Liu Zhongyong

A case auditor who declined to be named told Caijing that the testimony of two former police officers showed how difficult it is to bring to light corrupt practices inside law enforcement agencies. Such schemes typically involve several police insiders, and anyone who challenges them can face threats.

Indeed, battling police protection schemes has been seen as a highlight of the Chongqing anti-triad campaign. The official spearheading the campaign -- head of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau, Wang Lijun -- says the focus is not only eliminating crime on the streets but corruption behind the scenes as well.

Legal Issues

So far, the 80 defendants tied to the campaign have had one thing in common: While each admitted being involved in criminal activities, none wanted to be accused of triad-related activity. Thus, application of anti-triad laws has stirred controversy among the prosecution and defense.

Chen, the law dean, said the word "triad" refers to organized crime but, like the Italian crime organization "mafia. Chinese triads were originally secret societies that were dormant after 1945 but resurfaced about 30 years ago.

Officially, the Chinese government does not admit the existence of triads but only "groups with triad-like characteristics." This idea appeared in a 1997 revision of China's criminal law, defining the groups as focused on harming or intimidating the general populace. But the definition is hard to implement in law enforcement.

To resolve this problem, the Supreme People's Court published a judicial interpretation defining four standards for "groups with triad-like characteristics." It said they have a strict organizational structure, possess economic resources, cooperate with authorities to receive protection, and exhibit a strong tendency toward violence.

Chen said the government waged a major battle between these groups from 1999 to 2002. At the time, Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based triads were making inroads on the mainland, and domestic crime syndicates were acting like triads.

Before 2002, anti-triad clauses were seldom applied in criminal cases due to various judicial interpretations. Contention remains, as evident at the Chongqing trials.

Xie's defense lawyer said while gambling is a crime that requires group coordination, that does not necessarily mean it involves triad activity. Additionally, a triad is defined as a violent organization -- a criterion Xie's group apparently did not meet.

Counsel for the defense Zhou Litai said the police must be careful when campaigning against triads to make sure that "triad-related activity" isn't used carelessly for all sorts of offenses.

The First Intermediate People's Court officials said they are being careful to separate ordinary offenses and triad-related crime, and not to exaggerate ordinary crime.

Chen thinks the campaign is the on the right track. He thinks these groups exist because they find a "gray zone" for operations among people who have lost faith in the government. Once the campaign expands beyond Chongqing to the rest of the country, he said, the gray zones will be identified and criminals apprehended.

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