THE Longgang District People’s Court has filed charges against a total of 27 people including Liao Weiqing for illegally running casinos and creating disturbances, the Daily Sunshine reported.

Liao and the rest of the 26 defendants were sentenced to between 18 months to seven years in prison and were fined 7.1 million yuan (US$1,09 million) in total.

The court verdict includes 239 pages of details on the crimes of Liao and other defendants.

In the late 1990s, Liao joined a mafia-style gang named “Shuifangbang,” after being introduced by a gang member from Hong Kong surnamed Wan.

Other defendants were later invited to join the gang.

They carried out a series of illegal activities such as opening casinos and creating disturbances in Dakang areas in Henggang, Longgang District.

They also opened casinos in Macao and organized residents from the Chinese mainland to gamble three.

In 2015, Liao and other defendants created a great disturbance in a hotel in Longgang due to gambling disputes. They were then arrested by the police and convicted of crimes including intentionally causing injuries and illegally running casinos.

Longgang District Court has handled a total of 48 criminal cases related to crime syndicates since they launched a campaign in 2018 to crack down on organized crimes.

(Bai Jingyi, Wang Jingli)