Justice arrives for Guangzhou gang

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-27 08:19

GUANGZHOU: The largest gang case in Guangzhou got underway yesterday, with 34 people standing trial on charges connected to mafia-style crimes.

The trial, expected to last seven days at the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, coincides with trials against gangsters in Chongqing, which have aroused nationwide attention.

The Guangzhou-based gang, masterminded by Li Guiting, faces 11 charges including organizing and committing mafia-style crimes, coercing people and disrupting the social order, according to the local procuratorate.

Eighteen gang members are natives of the Baiyun district of Guangzhou, with the rest from Henan, Shandong, Anhui and Shaanxi provinces.

Six gang members had criminal records before the trial. Some have been convicted of other crimes and are serving sentences, the procuratorate said.

Li, 34, organized the gang when he opened his first businesses - a home appliance store and a gas station - in 1998, the procuratorate said.

He hired many young villagers to help him manage the business during the late 1990s.

Then he started collecting protection fees from other stores in Jiahe and from early 2002 controlled all the gambling dens in 10 villages in the Jiahe area.

In one case, in 2004, Li collected 500 yuan ($73) from each store owner in Jiahe, as lucky money to celebrate the new year.

The gang was also charged with monopolizing the bottled water market in the area.

Li, together with most of his members, confessed to their crimes in court yesterday but insisted they were not involved in a mafia-style organization.

"I was a car-keeper in Li's organization. How can I be charged with participation in a crime?" said alleged gangster Ye Zhongguang, who was charged with coercion.