A former senior police officer was sentenced to 20 years in jail in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality Thursday, convicted of protecting mafia-style gangs and other crimes.

Chen Honggang, former head of the Traffic Police Corps under the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau, was also found guilty of having huge amounts of money and assets he could not justify and forging ID cards, heard the Chongqing Municipal No. 5 Intermediate People's Court.

Prosecutors said Chen took bribes of more than 3.26 million yuan (479,412 U.S. dollars) from 54 organizations and individuals from December 2005 to September 2009 when he took advantage of his post to help others get job promotions, win project contracts and obtain special license plates.

When he served as police chief of Chongqing's Nan'an District from August 1996 to December 2005, he accepted a total of 58,000 yuan in bribes from gang boss Yue Cun and offered protection for Yue and his gang in handling a string of their crimes, including murder.

Prosecutors also said Chen could not account for 5.84 million yuan in his possession, and he had forged two ID cards to open bank accounts to transfer his money into.

Chen was among many high-ranking local officials prosecuted during a sweeping crackdown against organized crimes that started in June last year in Chongqing, which exposed links between police and criminals.

The local authorities have detained 1,176 people and prosecuted 782 involved in 78 criminal gangs, allegedly guilty of being involved in organized crime over the past six months.

A total of 87 officials have been prosecuted during the crackdown, including 12 high-ranking officials in the city.