A Chinese court has sentenced to death the head of a mafia-like gang operating in tea houses in the central part of the country, while 50 of his associates were handed down varying prison terms.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Xiangtan in Hunan Province linked the gang led by Wang Yongzhong to gambling, drug trafficking, assaults and holding people against their will, from which the group profited more than $1.6 million in a mass trial yesterday.
Wang opened his first tea house in Xiangtan in 1998 and from there he built his network, authorities said.
The gang ran into trouble after Wang called his subordinates to attack a local villager’s home, killing the owner and injuring three others in 2010.
Wang was sentenced to death yesterday and was ordered by the court to pay a fine of 2 million yuan. The court also sentenced the primary attacker in the 2010 case, Zhang Dijun to death but gave him a two year reprieve.