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BEIJING : A court in southwest China on Friday sentenced a pair of 23-year-old twins to 17 years in prison in the latest rulings in a series of sensational organised crime trials that have gripped the nation.
A Chongqing intermediate court convicted Zhang Bo and Zhang Tao of organised crime activities linked to illegal gambling, assault and destroying property at an electronic gaming parlour, the court said in a verdict on its website.
"Their acts were terrible, their influence in the Wanzhou district huge and they severely damaged social order," the court said.
The pair were convicted of organising 22 other gang members to run roughshod over the gaming industry in Chongqing's Wanzhou district from 2007-2009 with a series of "movable gambling dens," the court said.
The court also handed down sentences of between one and 13 years to 21 other defendants, while one person was released on parole.
Most of the defendants were under 30 years of age and many were hired by the "mafia twins" after being released from prison, press reports said.
The verdicts were the latest in a series of trials that have gripped the nation with lurid tales of sex and corruption in Chongqing, a municipality with a population of more than 30 million.
So far six people have been sentenced to death in the cases.
On Tuesday, a Chongqing court sentenced the "godmother" of a crime gang to 18 years in jail for running at least 20 illegal gambling dens in hotels, nightclubs and tea houses.
Xie Caiping, 46, was also convicted of illegal drug activity, and bribing police to turn a blind eye to her crimes, earlier press reports said.
Xie reportedly drove a Mercedes-Benz, owned several luxury villas and kept a stable of 16 young men to provide her with sexual services.
She is the sister-in-law of the former head of Chongqing's judiciary, Wen Qiang, who is at the centre of the crackdown that has led to the arrest of more than 1,500 suspects.
Wen is accused of protecting an intricate web of businessmen, officials and mobsters.
- AFP/ir
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