A 34-member organized crime ring, according to police the first mafia-style organization in Beijing since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, has been stopped in its tracks.

The Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court sentenced ringleader Hu Yadong, who was found guilty on 13 charges including bribery and grievous bodily harm, to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of 2.62 million yuan (about 327,500 U.S. dollars).

Hu Yadong's younger brother, Hu Yafeng, was given a jail term of 19 years and an identical fine.

The court was told that the crime ring started operations in August 1996 when Hu Yadong hired several men to beat up Zhang Guoli, who was in charge of automobile maintenance at a local butchery. Zhang had incurred Hu's wrath by cutting back on the business he put through Hu's auto repair service. The gang hacked off half of Zhang's right ear.

Hu Yadong later bribed policemen and prison guards to get his men out of jail, and collaborated with Chang Yousheng to swindle money from swill cart drivers in the Gaoliying area.

The three police personnel were dealt with in separate cases, while Chang was sentenced to a jail term of six years.

Also convicted was Zhang Qiusheng, 43, a former lawyer with Jingji Law Firm in Beijing. Egged on by Hu Yadong, Zhang took 80,000 yuan from victims by promising them he could help them "buy their way out of prison". He received a jail sentence of five and a half years.

Source: Xinhua