Ex-officer on trial as mafia-style group boss
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Alleged gang leader Yue Cun was arrested at his office in Chongqing in June. |
Former local police officer Yue Cun will stand trial Wednesday for allegedly leading a gang that committed "extreme violent crimes" in the southwest municipality.
The 40-strong gang under Yue's lead will face 13 charges in Chongqing No.5 Intermediate People's Court, including leading or participating in a gang, murder, intentional injury on others, abduction, racketeering, trading and possession of ammunitions.
The trials are the latest that brought national attention to Chongqing after many officials from the local police and the justice system, as well as defense attorneys, have been implicated for protecting gangs or obstructing justice.
An investigation by the procuratorate found that the gang allegedly killed three people, seriously injured one and resolved issues through violent means in loan-sharking, racketeering and collecting debts.
Local police have seized 15 guns, 16 cars, 13 properties and froze 52 million yuan of the gang's assets. The "gang-sweeping achievements exhibition" staged in the municipal public security bureau revealed the information and put some of the seized items on display.
Citizens said lessons could be learned from the policeman who allegedly turned into a criminal and gang ringleader.
"Let's face the truth and be reminded of not falling into the same pit again," said local middle school teacher Xie Xiaoming.
Yue reportedly was promoted to head of Nanbinlu police station in the city's Nan'an district in the 1990s.
He began to assemble decommissioned solders and mobsters to work as security guards for the Fuan Cinema that he contracted to operate in the Nan'an district in 1996, according to prosecutors.
Since then, he reportedly expanded his influence and accumulated his wealth with violence and threats.
Prosecutors said that begining in 2001, Yue set up 10 "information consulting companies" that operated loan-sharking and illegal detective businesses. His organization gradually became a structured mafia-style gang with clear reporting lines and gang rules.
The exhibition also showed after he retired for health reasons as a police officer in 2004, the gang conducted spying and eavesdropping activities with hi-tech equipment around Yue's "Bond Company" to blackmail government officials and company owners.
