The higher court of southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality Friday upheld the sentences on female gang boss Xie Caiping and her 21 accomplices.

Xie was sentenced to 18 years in prison by Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court in a first-instance verdict on Nov. 3. She was convicted of organizing and leading a criminal organization, running gambling dens, illegal imprisonment, harboring people taking illegal narcotics and giving bribes to officials.

Her 21 subordinates got jail terms between one and 13 years.

Xie and 14 others later appealed to the Higher People's Court of Chongqing, which rejected the appeal saying the first-instance ruling was "appropriate in sentencing and sufficient in evidence."