China sentenced to death a mafia kingpin who ensnared...

China sentenced to death a mafia kingpin who ensnared city hall and top Communist Party officials in the northeastern industrial hub of Shenyang in a huge graft scandal.
A Liaoning province court handed down the sentence to gang leader and former city official Liu Yong, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The court also fined Liu 15 million yuan ($1.81 million) for property damage, illegal business operations, bribery, possession of guns and obstruction of justice, it said.
One of Liu's henchman received the death penalty while 20 others, including several former policemen, were jailed for varying lengths of time, Xinhua said.
Liu, a Communist Party member and a legislator in Shenyang's parliament, ran roughshod over China's fifth largest city for a decade, hiring policemen to torture rivals and pummel shopkeepers who refused to surrender their property.
Shenyang police ended his gang's crime spree in a July 2000 raid, arresting over 50 suspects. They also were charged with crimes such as "membership of an underworld organisation", assault, blackmail and tax evasion.
Liu's arrest led to the downfall of dozens of Shenyang officials in 2001 for bribe-taking and other offences. Te sensational case highlighted China's problems with rampant corruption, which President and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin said risks undermining support for the party.