Former China police chief gets death in vast gangland corruption case

Former China police chief gets death in gang case

BEIJING — A former Chinese police chief was sentenced to death Wednesday, state media said, in a sprawling gangland corruption case that has riveted the country.

The case of Wen Qiang has been the biggest in a series of gang prosecutions in the southwestern city of Chongqing that have featured lurid testimony about sex, corruption and the city’s violent underworld.

The Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Wen late Wednesday afternoon, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Phones at the court rang unanswered.

Prosecutors had accused Wen of taking bribes worth more than 16 million yuan ($2.4 million) from gang members he gave legal protection to while he was director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau.

During his trial, Wen told the court that much of the money he accepted was for “birthday and New Year” greetings, state media has reported.

Wen, 55, also was found guilty of raping a university student in 2007 and 2008, according to a report posted Wednesday on the Web site of the Chongqing News.

Chongqing has a long history of underworld activities, and a government crackdown has exposed a tangled web of links between government officials and police officers who sought to provide cover for the crime syndicates.

More than 3,000 people, including 14 high-ranking government and police officials, have been arrested.

Chongqing’s Communist Party boss has said the crackdown isn’t over.

“There are still 500 or 600 cases that still haven’t been broken,” Bo Xilai announced last month.

Wen’s wife was also sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison for taking bribes in exchange for protecting gang members, the Chongqing News reported.

Wen was detained in August and accused of protecting the gang operations masterminded by his sister-in-law, Xie Caiping, 46, known as the “godmother” of the Chongqing underworld. Xie was sentenced to 18 years in prison in November for running illegal casinos and bribing government officials.

Xie was notorious for her toughness and a lavish lifestyle that reportedly included luxury villas and a stable of 16 young lovers.