Gang suspects formally charged

Yang Tianqing (left), 35, and eight other alleged gang members face charges at the No.1 Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing in southwest China yesterday. Another suspected criminal gang faced a separate court.

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SUSPECTED gang members seized in Chongqing have been formally charged and yesterday faced courts in the southwest China city.
As they await trial many more are expected to join them in the city's latest crackdown on organized crime.
The Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People's Court heard a series of criminal charges against Yang Tianqing, 35, and his alleged henchmen.
At the same time, 22 suspects, headed by Liu Zhongyong, faced the No.3 Intermediate People's Court.
Yang was accused of recruiting ex-convicts and unemployed people from 2005 to carry out murder, assault and battery, extortion and usury.
The indictment said Yang and his gang forced local businessmen to deal with them and used violent means to collect debts.
About 20 lawmakers and government advisers attended the Yang hearing and more than 100 police officers were on duty for security reasons.
Liu and his group faced more than 10 charges, including murder, assault and battery, and illegal mining.
Backed by Bo Xilai, Chongqing's Party chief, police raids beginning in June on gangs and the officials behind them smashed 14 organizations and nabbed more than 2,000 suspects.
Some future hearings may have dozens of defendants.
Notorious Chongqing figures, including Chen Mingliang, Li Qiang and Xie Caiping, will face trial soon.
Casino counts
Xie, sister-in-law of the city's ex-justice chief and former deputy public security director Wen Qiang, is expected in court tomorrow.
Xie, a former taxation official in Chongqing, is the only woman among 19 suspected gang leaders, and the indictment said she ran illegal businesses, including casinos.
Wen will be moved elsewhere for trial as investigators consider him a major protector of criminal gangs.
Wen allegedly raped women, took tens of millions of yuan in bribes and had a huge amount of unaccounted assets.
Officials seized include judges, police officers, prosecutors and urban planners.
Gangs in Chongqing have long been accused of working with local businessmen and government officials.
They have reportedly devastated some local businesses.
They acted as loan sharks, blackmailers or ran illegal casinos and hired stand-over men to collect gambling and other debts from businessmen and companies alike.

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