CHINA. SEAFOOD TRIAD LEADER EXECUTED IN SHENZHEN

Chen Kegeng, the leader of a notorious triad which had controlled three leading seafood markets in Shenzhen for three years was executed. Chen became Guangdong's first mafia member to be given the capital punishment. The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, China, sentenced Chen to death in November 2003 after finding him guilty of orchestrating the murder of a seafood wholesaler as well as attacks on other wholesalers. He was also convicted of blackmailing seafood traders and running an organized criminal gang. His lieutenant, Huang Yantian, was given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve. The court also handed out jail terms ranging from four to 20 years to seven other accomplices. Chen and more than 10 of his accomplices stabbed to death a Buji retailer surnamed Zhang on July 26, 1999, after Zhang refused to pay the gang protection money, the court said. The gang extorted huge amounts of protection money from the Dongmen, Buji and Luofang markets between 1999 and 2001. Wholesalers who refused to pay were attacked or forced to leave.