Trial of 22 opens on organized crime charges
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Twenty-two people went on trial Wednesday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on charges related to running an organized crime ring and illegal gambling dens.
The alleged ringleader, Xie Caiping, was charged with organizing and leading an organized crime gang, running illegal gambling dens, and harboring people taking illegal narcotics, illegal imprisonment and giving bribes to officials.
The municipal authorities arrested more than 2,000 government officials, police officers and suspected gangsters in a crackdown on organized crime this summer.
Among those arrested was Wen Qiang, director of the municipal judicial administrative bureau and former executive deputy director of the municipal public security bureau.
Xie, wife of Wen's younger brother, is the only woman accused of leading any of the 14 alleged gangs that were targeted in the campaign.
Her gang made 2 million yuan (293,000 U.S. dollars) in illegal earnings by running more than 10 gambling dens and harboring those who took drugs, prosecutors told the No. 5 Intermediate People's Court.
The group also illegally imprisoned gamblers and policemen and offered 180,000 yuan in bribes to local police officers, the prosecutors said.
The charges span five years.
The trial is expected to last two days.
The courts in Chongqing started the first in the series of organized crime trials on Monday.
The number of people involved in the cases ranges from more than 10 to 70 and some trials are expected to continue for more than two weeks, according to the local police.
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