Gang crackdown in Chongqing
Chongqing's crackdown, which began last summer, has been surprisingly extensive, netting more than 1,544 suspects — gangsters, prominent businessmen and 14 high-ranking officials. The latter include the second-in-command at the police criminal investigation division and the deputy director of the Higher People's Court, as well as a local legislator and the deputy director of the city's coal safety bureau.
Intended to display the Chinese leadership's renewed resolve to stamp out corruption, the Chongqing campaign has instead highlighted how entrenched criminal gangs have become throughout China.
"Local governments have essentially lost control over organized crime," said Ming Xia, a professor at The City University of New York who studies China's criminal underworld. He said an internal report by the national police ministry estimated that China had 2 million to 3 million people involved in organized crime in 2004 and 4,200 "mafia-style syndicates." He believes the number of participants may be as high as 4 million.
In central Henan province, gangs run beer-supply networks. In southwestern Chengdu, they steal medicine and resell it. In northern Hebei province, nearly 100 gangsters put on trial last month were involved in businesses ranging from entertainment to seafood wholesaling and parking; 10 were sentenced to death.
The pervasiveness marks a remarkable resurgence for gangs, which were almost completely eradicated in the first decades of Communist rule. (AP)
