Police are cracking down on night life brawling, extortion, blackmail and hired hatchet men, all described as a "hideous social phenomenon."

Shanghai today isn't Chicago of the 1920s, but there's an unpleasant resonance of the days when influential businessmen were laws unto themselves. And city police are trying to rectify that lawlessness, and scoring some successes.

City police solved several criminal cases involving armed conflicts and serious injuries in the past few months, leading to the arrest of many suspects, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau announced yesterday.

The bureau recently issued a special notice, vowing to strengthen its crackdown on crimes including extorting debts by force, blackmail, armed assault and hiring hatchet men at entertain venues.

The police authority cited some recently solved cases to show their success in battling the crimes.

On the night of May 11, one man was killed and many others were injured in a brawl triggered by online soccer betting at a restaurant on Hengshan Road, Xuhui District. Suspects from both sides fled the scene before police arrived.

However, investigators soon caught up with 23 suspects responsible for the incident, 18 of whom were arrested.

About a month later Baoshan District police simultaneously raided a restaurant in Yangpu District and a night club in Baoshan, seizing 17 suspects of a criminal ring directed by Jiangsu Province native Li Bin.

Police alleged Li and his accomplices were suspected of involvement in four armed fights at the Baoding Palace Night Club in Baoshan since March. A total of 15 were wounded during the onslaughts, police said.

The third incident occurred in a karaoke bar on August 28 and involved an overseas Chinese surnamed Hua, who hired some hatchet men to demand payment of gambling debts owed.

Police said managers of the bar, a couple identified as Zhang and his wife, owed Hua 300,000 yuan (US$37,084) in a gambling party early that month.

On the night of August 28 Hua together with his employees met the couple at their entertainment venue. However, an altercation broke out between two sides and then led to a mass assault. One hatchet man identified as Wu was stabbed to death and the other two were injured.

The couple and another four suspects have been detained by police and the karaoke bar was ordered to shut down for a six-month rectification and was fined 20,000 yuan.

(Shanghai Daily October 18, 2005)