Prosecutors have charged 73 people with 19 crimes, including murder, alleging they were all members of an organized crime gang that terrorized part of a central China province.

The accused appeared in the Loudi Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Hunan Province, on charges of murder, assault with intent to injure, inciting violence, robbery, blackmail, public fighting and disorder, illegal detention, kidnap, rape, and other violent crimes, according to the Loudi Municipal People's Procuratorate.

The gang allegedly committed the crimes on more than 180 occasions between 2002 and 2006 in Loudi and neighboring Lianyuan City, Shuangfeng County and Xiangxiang City, leaving four people dead and 52 injured, 10 of which seriously.

Ringleader Long Shiming, 30, a native of Wanbao Township of Loudi, was arrested by police in April last year.

"They severely destroyed local economic order and social life," a procurator said.

China has stepped up the crackdown on organized crimes this year.

Police in north China's Hebei Province arrested 37 alleged gang members led by Yang Shukuan in Tangshan City on charges including involvement in organized crime, intimidation, theft, fraud, inciting violence, public fighting and disorder, and illegal possession of firearms, the Hebei Provincial Department of Public Security said last week.

Police seized 330 rounds of ammunition and 35 firearms, including 19 sporting guns and four small-bore rifles.

More than 40 people were involved in the gang and almost 100 police officers from across the province were still investigating the case and seeking other alleged gang members.

Also in Hebei, the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court last week sentenced 14 gang members to death for murder and other violent crimes while another four received life imprisonment.

Ringleaders Zhang Baoyi, Gao Yuehui, He Pidong and their accomplices were convicted of 19 crimes, including involvement in organized crime, murder, assault with intent to injure, robbery, extortion, the illegal possession and trade of firearms, and public fighting and disorder.

The gang, charged in connection with 38 criminal cases, allegedly monopolized the road haulage business from Shijiazhuang to several nearby cities by means of violence and forcibly jacked up prices since February 2003.

China's law enforcement agencies have cracked 125 cases and prosecuted 246 suspects involved in organized crime from the beginning of 2006 to March this year, government statistics show.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2007)