South China gang leader gets death sentence with 2-year reprieve

The head of a cross-border gang was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in the Zhuhai special economic zone of South China's Guangdong province on Dec 31.

The gang leader, Huang Jianwei, is restricted from commutation and all assets he illegally gained were confiscated, according to a verdict that was passed by Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday.

Five other members of Huang's gang were sentenced to terms between a year and seven months to life in prison.

Huang and his gang were guilty of developing secret societies on the Chinese mainland since 2008, kidnapping and false imprisonment in the cities of Dongguan, Zhongshan and Zhuhai, causing one death, according to the verdict.

Huang and his gang seriously destroyed and damaged the business environment and brought about bad social influence in these cities in the prosperous Pearl River Delta. They used violence, threats, intimidation and other illegal and violent methods to recruit new gang members, forcibly demand repayment of debts and grab illegal profits, according to the verdict.

The case is the first that courts in Guangdong province have ever handled involving gangs from outside the mainland cultivating secret societies and related cross-border violent gangs in recent years.