According to the Hunan Changde Intermediate People's Court, on January 15, 2019, the Changde Intermediate People's Court publicly pronounced a verdict in the first instance of Wen Liehong and other triad-type organized crime cases.
The court found that since 2002, defendant Wen Liehong has opened casinos in major hotels in Changsha City, organized others to participate in gambling and profited from them, and issued usurious loans to others, gradually accumulating huge wealth. From 2005 to 2009, Wen Liehong recruited She Bin, Gong Hao, Yi Huiyue, Guo Zhuo and others to collect their violent debts, of which She Bin and Gong Hao were accompanied by a number of unemployed people. In February 2010, Wen Liehong established a Grand Pawn Shop at the suggestion of Yao Yue to lend money at high interest rates in the name of the company. Since then, a mafia-type organization with usurious lending, casino opening, violent debt collection and other illegal and criminal activities as the main business, with Wen Liehong as the organizer and leader, has been formed. In 2011, after defendant Shu Kai gained Wen Liehong's trust, he recruited Hu Gaosheng and a number of unemployed people from other places to join the mafia-type organization, thus further developing and expanding the power of the mafia-type organization.
The court also found that the criminal organization was numerous, well-structured, hierarchical and clearly divided. Among them, Wen Liehong is the organizer and leader; Shu Kai, She Bin, and Gong Hao are the backbone members; Liu Chuping, Wang Feng, Yao Yue, Yi Huiyue, and Wen Ya are active participants; Chen Fufu, Hu Gaosheng, Zhang Xiangwei, Huang Zemeng, Guo Zhuo, Zhou Yuming, Chen Jianlin, Shu Yun, Shu Hao, Liu Xiangxiong, Wan Gang, Wen Siwen, Tang Yu, Zhou Wentian, Qi Ningbo, Luo Xin, and other 16 other participants. The criminal organization grabbed huge profits by lending usury, opening casinos to make profits, and using fraudulent means to gamble, and by the time of the crime, the criminal organization had been seized and seized in cash and property of more than 1.2 billion yuan. The mafia-type organization used the illegally seized wealth to purchase criminal tools for the members of the organization, paid salaries and bonuses, "sealing fees", and provided housing, tourism, etc., to support the survival, development and growth of the criminal organization; the criminal organization and the members of the organization committed a total of 84 criminal acts and illegal acts, in order to recover illegal interests such as usury and gambling funds, using violence and the threat of violence as the main means, wantonly committed intentional injury, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, illegal detention, gathering crowds to fight, forced trading, Extortion and extortion and other illegal and criminal acts have committed wrongdoing, oppressed and maimed the masses, and the social harm is very serious; this criminal organization has dominated one side by co-opting and bribing the staff of state organs and using the staff of state organs to shield or connive, causing many private enterprises to shut down and close down, triggering many mass incidents, and even causing the suicide of a responsible person of a bank, seriously undermining the order of economic and social life in the relevant areas.
The court held that defendant Wen Liehong, as the organization and leader of a mafia-type organization, should not only bear criminal responsibility for the criminal acts in which he directly participated in the commission, but should also bear criminal responsibility for all the criminal acts committed by the mafia-type organizations he organized and led in accordance with law. Wen Liehong directly participated in or organized, planned, or instructed members of the organization to carry out more than 40 illegal and criminal activities. Wen Liehong was convicted of 15 crimes, including the crime of organizing and leading a mafia-type organization, the crime of fraud, the crime of bribery, the crime of extortion, the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, the crime of forced trading, the crime of opening a casino, the crime of gathering crowds to fight, the crime of illegal detention, the crime of gambling, the crime of escape, the crime of intentional injury, the crime of sabotaging production and operation, the crime of illegally occupying agricultural land, and the crime of obstructing testimony.
Defendants Shu Kai, She Bin, and Gong Hao, who were key members, were sentenced to 25, 13, and 11 years' imprisonment respectively, deprived of political rights ranging from four to two years, and had all their property confiscated. The other 21 defendants will be sentenced in turn.
More than 200 people, including provincial and municipal people's congress deputies, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference,media reporters, and the public, observed the public pronouncement of the verdict. (Beiqing Daily reporter Li Tiezhu)