A former member of the Municipal People's Congress and political advisory body in Yangjiang, Guangdong province is being tried as a leader of an organized gang that ran extensive criminal activities in the city for the past two decades.

Lin Guoqin, 53, who was in the Yangjiang Municipal People's Congress and Yangjiang municipal committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is accused of organizing and leading a group that committed murder, ran casinos and extorted people, among other crimes, the local Nanfang Daily reported on Monday.

Lin, together with another leader, businessman Xu Guoqin, 42, also used the gang to monopolize the local seafood, construction material, gas and transportation markets since the mid-1990s, the newspaper quoted the indictment as saying.

The trial of Lin, Xu and 43 other alleged gangsters started yesterday and is expected to last for 22 days, given the large number of crimes on the list.

The other alleged gang members on trial include those in the transport, energy and construction material sectors.

Lin allegedly began his involvement in criminal activities in the late 1990s and has invested in local businesses since then.

Fronting as a legal representative of a local real estate developer and a general manager of a cement factory, Lin got himself elected chairman of the city's Federation of Industry and Commerce and a CPPCC member in 2000, the newspaper reported.

He reportedly sponsored numerous entertainment and public events, and even donated 200,000 yuan (US$29,200) every year since 2000 to help students who dropped out of school. He allegedly bought himself a seat in the local People's Congress before his membership was revoked in January 2007.

The partnership of Xu and Lin was established in 1990 when the duo began to arm themselves with guns, the report said.

In 1994, Xu and Lin built their clout by directing a gangster to kill Ruan Shiguang, the boss of the biggest underground organization at that time, the report said.

The two then gradually formed their organized gang by recruiting cold-blooded killers and operating an extensive gambling business covering the whole Yangjiang municipal area in the next 10 years, according to the report.

The gang encroached into most aspects of locals' daily lives by acquiring construction, energy, poultry, transportation, fishing and entertainment businesses with ill-gotten money from 2004 to 2007, the report said.

Police arrested Lin and Xu on Dec 28, 2007.

A number of Yangjiang residents yesterday expressed relief at seeing the alleged gang members being "brought to justice", years after the city was marred by organized crime.

"The construction sector is much better now," said a manager of the Yangjiang-based Kongdong Cement Co who only wanted to be known as Zhang.

(China Daily June 17, 2009)