CHINA: EX-CONVICTS GET DEATH PENALTY FOR RUNNING MAFIA-STYLE CRIME RING

two brothers from a south Chinese city were given the death penalty for crimes including operating an organized crime ring and causing two deaths. The Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou City, the provincial capital of Guangdong Province, handed down the sentences in a first-instance trial. The court heard that starting in July 2005, 30-year-old Feng Zhixi, a native of Guangzhou on parole, and his younger brother Feng Zhizhao, an ex-convict, whipped together a score of jobless people to form an organization called Black Dragon Society. Through means such as extortion and false promises, the Feng brothers led the Society to a membership of 100, many of whom were middle school students in the city. Members of the organized crime ring often haunted venues of entertainment in Baiyun district of Guangzhou to stir up trouble and then to levy protection fees, or blackmail others by taking advantage of negotiating disputes on their behalf. The Feng brothers and other organized crime ring members were also guilty of other acts of robbery, and illegal possession of weaponry. The court found Feng Zhixi was guilty of five counts of crime, including murder, leading and operating the organized crime ring, and forced trading and sentenced him to death, plus a deprivation of political rights for life. Feng Zhizhao, 25, who was also found guilty of five counts of crime, was sentenced to death but with two-year's reprieve. He was deprived of his political rights for life and all his personal property. Twelve other key members on the same organized crime ring were also sentenced to jail terms ranging from three years to life imprisonment.