Twenty-five people including a former assistant mayor and an accused gang boss, are standing trial for allegedly participating in or leading a mafia-style gang in Hubei province.

Most of the accused have denied the charges at the trial, which began on Tuesday in the province's Jianli county people's court.

Huang Hongyan, 47, assistant mayor of the province's Tianmen city, is charged with participating in a mafia-style gang, embezzling public money and forcing trades.

Before being arrested in April, he was in charge of the city's urban reconstruction and relocation work where the mafia-style operation was focused, local Chutian Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

The alleged gang's ringleader, Xiahou Sicong, and another 20 members were arrested late last year.

Xiahou, 37, began the mafia-style operation with organized gambling and loan sharking. He served in the local police station after leaving the army in 1990. Before his arrest, he was director of the Yuekou branch of the Tianmen Local Tax Bureau, as well as president of the Tianmen Youfu Trading Company. His father and a brother are local police officers.

From 2001 to 2008, the alleged gang monopolized the city's real estate as well as its markets for building materials, entertainment venues, beer and funeral cremation urns through blackmail and violence, the prosecutor said.

The accused gang members are facing 14 charges such as leading or participating in mafia-style gangs, intentionally causing injury to others, forcing trades, organizing gambling and harboring criminals.

The gang is also accused of injuring several men and illegally amassing a huge sum of money, the prosecutor said, without giving an exact number.

Xiahou intentionally made friends with Huang during the city's demolition projects when Xiahou was a boss of a local demolition company.

In Dec 2007, Huang's special relationship with Xiahou was exposed in a land auction. Xiahou and his gang members helped two local property developers win the bid by threatening other developers.

Police later found Huang held half the shares in one of the companies.

The standing committee of the Tianmen People's Congress had suspended Huang's committee membership before the arrest, the local Changjiang Daily reported.

It is unknown when the court will announce the verdict for the trial, which is scheduled to end today.

A massive anti-gang campaign, which started in June in Chongqing municipality, has put the spotlight on organized crime and how it corrupted local officials and businesses through bribery, extortion, blackmail and violence.