Peng Changjian [file photo]

During his trial, Peng acknowledged he never led a police investigation of three clubs owned by the three gang bosses, which he had been to on several occasions, an omission he justified on the grounds of wishing to avoid abuse of power by the police.

Explaining his inaction, Peng said that since some of his peers had previously abused their power while investigating entertainment venues, an investigation should not take place unless a member of the public had first raised an alarm to police.

Wen used a similar excuse in court to defend his inaction over the three clubs. He was also accused of protecting the three gang bosses, named as Wang Xiaojun, Ma Dang and Yue Ning.

With his conviction and life sentence, the logic behind Peng's excuse apparently fell short and locals welcomed the heavy punishment dished out to the former police chief.

"Why didn't he receive the death penalty?" asked Zhang Jinghui, a student from the local Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

"As a police chief, he knew the law and violated it, so he should face a harsher penalty," she added.

Following his sentence, the court ordered seizure of Peng's personal assets worth 500,000 yuan, bribery money and unexplained assets to top up the state treasury.

When asked if he accepted his sentence, Pent disagreed, though he did not immediately launch an appeal.

After Wen was detained, he allegedly told an investigating officer: "If you sentence me to death, I will tell everything, so let's wait for death together," the Guangzhou Daily reported.

By the end of 2009, the Chongqing operation to crack down on gangs had detained nearly 3,000 people and implicated 200 officials for their alleged connections with organized crime.