CHINA. LEADER OF ORGANIZED CRIME RING SENTENCED TO DEATH

Zhao Chun, leader of an organized crime ring in the suburban county of Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, was sentenced to death for crimes including murder.
The ruling was given by the Intermediate People's Court of Shenyang City.
Both of his accomplices, Gao Feng and Liu Tao, who were hired by Zhao as hatchet men to kill a man surnamed Xu, were also sentenced to death. In Liu’s case the death sentence was with a two year reprieve.
The court was told that Zhao, who suffered gunshot wounds to both his legs on January 15, 2005, suspected that the injury was inflicted by Xu's men and decided to take revenge.
On June 15, 2005, Zhao's hatchet men hid below Xu's apartment and shot him as he left his house. Xu died after being shot ten times in his legs.