China sentences crime boss to 20 years in jail

CHONGQING - A court here Thursday sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for running a criminal network involved in extortion and other crimes, an official said.

Li Yi was also fined one million yuan ($146,470) by the Second Intermediate Court in Chongqing municipality in southwest China.

Twenty-five other gang members received jail terms ranging from six months to 17 years. More than half of them are under 30 years old, Xinhua reported.

Li served two years in jail for rape in the early 1990s. He organised the gang in 2001 and made more than three million yuan through racketeering, a court spokesman said.

His gang used to extort money from taxi drivers and vendors at a market in Kaixian County, the spokesman said. The gang was also involved in arson, tax evasion and robbery.

The Chongqing administration had started a crackdown on criminal gangs in June, exposing the deep ties between police and criminals.