Gang crackdown targets 'umbrella' within governments
- Source: Global Times
- [05:58 September 02 2009]
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By Qiu Wei
National law-enforcement agencies announced Tuesday that they have eliminated more than 13,000 criminal gangs since 2006 – a move widely seen as a display of Beijing's determination to renew its drive to crack down on organized crime.
In a joint meeting held by the National Anti-Gang Crime Office, Gao Jinghong, director of the gang-crime crackdown team at the Supreme People's Court, said that about 12,800 people connected to organized crime were convicted between February 2006 and July of this year.
That included the fall of a former police chief and dozens of police officers in June. They were found to be tied to alleged gang-crime cover-ups in Chongqing, prompting a vow by Ministry of Public Security Deputy Director Hu Zeng to "mercilessly" uproot "protective umbrellas" provided by governmental and legal departments.
A total of 179 such "umbrellas" have been exposed in the past three years, the office said.
Also during that span, the ministry said, about 89,000 people were arrested for alleged involvement in organized crime, and authorities seized more than 2,700 guns.
The criminal gangs were allegedly involved in businesses such as construction, mining, public transportation and wholesale markets. The courts have confiscated more than 4 billion yuan ($588 million) in "black money" earned from unlawful business practices.
Even in rural areas, gangsters who bully villagers, commit crimes or use bribery or violence to manipulate village elections are also being brought to justice.
The Chongqing model
The announced crackdown on immunity given to gangs came weeks after a landmark case in which 17-year Police Chief Wen Qiang, in southwestern Chongqing Municipality, was put under investigation for alleged ties to gangs.
Wen had also been chief of the city's justice bureau since last year. Authorities say he helped cover up predatory lending and other types of criminal activities.
Chongqing police also arrested more than 1,500 people allegedly involved in a number of gang crimes in the city. Some of the arrested were billionaires in real estate and transportation businesses.
More than 100 police officers, including 20 senior officers, were removed from their posts for allegedly abusing their power for gangs' advantage, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
Mafia-like gangs are a product of a market economy, which will exist for a long time, because of their aim to make money, often illegally, experts said.
Wang Li, a law professor at Southwest University in Chongqing, said the city's organized crimes are still at the beginning and middle levels.
"But we'll have to be very cautious that once the gangs get to higher levels, they might use their power to manipulate government policies in their interest through seemingly legal means," Wang said.
"Organized criminal gangs in Chongqing are characterized by high-profile protection and a deep penetration of the local economy," said Wang Dawei of the Chinese People's Public Security University. "The most important task is to get rid of their penetration of the local economy, uproot those high-level umbrellas and train more experienced personnel."
Li Wei, an anti-terrorism expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the Chongqing model of cracking organized gangs has been established, and it will be utilized across the country.
"Any battle against organized crime without cracking down its roots – the "umbrella" – will fail," Li said.
Guo Qiang and Zhang Han contributed to this story
