Chinese police have cracked nearly 900 mafia-like criminal gangs under a campaign launched in February 2006, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

Some 13,000 gangs were broken up and nearly 100,000 criminal cases in all were cracked during the past three years, a ministry spokesman said.

The ministry has honored nearly 100 organizations and individuals for their work in the campaign.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2009)