Remember Li Jianming, an advanced individual in the national special struggle against organized crime and evil forces

Backed by the Party and the People, He Has Nothing to Fear Li Jianming, an advanced individual in the national special struggle to sweep away organized crime and eliminate evil forces, and director of the Fourth Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Neijiang City, Sichuan Province

The picture shows Li Jianming (center) collecting clues related to mafia-related evil and corruption and the "protective umbrella" problem at a certain land requisition and demolition site. Photo by Li Shu

During the Mid-Autumn Festival National Day, in the farmers' market of Baima Town, Shizhong District, Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, wufu minxi and orderly. However, just three years ago, the farmers' market was dominated by a mafia-type organization headed by the Su brothers, and the merchants were miserable.

"It is really good to sweep away the evil forces, and we will no longer be disturbed by the 'Earth Overlord.'" Seeing Li Jianming, director of the Fourth Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Neijiang Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission's Supervision Commission and director of the Neijiang Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission's Anti-Mafia Office, who came to visit him, the merchant Lao Zhou happily talked about slipping his lips.

In the past three years, Li Jianming has led his colleagues to investigate and deal with 540 party members and cadres who directly participated in crimes related to criminal syndicates and evil forces, acted as a "protective umbrella" for criminal syndicates and evil forces, and failed to perform their duties and responsibilities, resulting in the criminal syndicates and evil forces taking the momentum, and transferring 20 people to the judicial organs. In March this year, Li Jianming was rated as an advanced individual in the national special struggle against organized crime and evil forces.

Discipline inspection and public security cooperation breaks through "zero confession"

The two brothers, Su Cheng and Su Gang, were once the "earth overlords" of Baima Town, Neijiang City; they gathered a group of idle members of society, took advantage of the development and construction of Baima Town, stepped in the construction of the project, contracted the farmers' market, and amassed huge wealth through forced trading, extortion, and other illegal and criminal acts, forming a mafia-type organization.

The police confirmed some of their criminal actions through a whistleblower letter reflecting the Su brothers' monopoly on the sand and gravel business, extortion of project contractors, opening casinos, and violent debt collection. However, the old and vicious Su brothers firmly denied their crimes, and the investigation fell into a passive situation of "zero confessions".

At this moment, a "law enforcement certificate" seized from the Su brothers at the Baima Town Comprehensive Farmers' Market attracted the attention of the police. It turned out that since 2016, some personnel in the Su Brothers' mafia-type organization have been openly wearing "law enforcement certificates" issued by the Baima Town Urban Management Office and forcibly collecting management fees and booth fees at the farmers' market. Because of the government departments and public officials involved, the police immediately transferred the clue to the Neijiang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection.

After carefully analyzing the clues to the problem, Li Jianming, with years of experience in handling cases, asked whether behind the Su brothers was hiding a "protective umbrella" and "relationship network" that supported their platforms. "If we intervene early and investigate from within the government department, we may be able to change the passive situation in the investigation of this case." After Li Jianming reported his opinions, the Neijiang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision immediately set up a special case team to carry out investigations simultaneously with the public security organs.

"The Su brothers case has a long time span, involves a wide range of people, and the masses have strong reactions, coupled with the fact that it is the first case of a crime of a triad nature in Neijiang, we lack corresponding experience in handling cases, and the investigation work is extremely difficult." Recalling the scene when he first came into contact with the case, Li Jianming said, "In order to find a breakthrough in the case, we divided our troops into many ways and went deep into the underworld organization many times to understand its business characteristics, and after repeated consultations and judgments, we finally decided to focus on the abandoned soil field in Honglian Village, which was contracted and operated by Su Cheng. ”

As the investigation deepened, Yao Li, then deputy secretary of the party committee and secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Baima Town, Chen Junbo, then member of the town party committee, deputy mayor, and director of the Armed Forces Department, and Liu Junxiang, then director of the town's urban management office, and three other "protective umbrellas" of the criminal and evil forces surfaced. The special case group immediately took measures to retain the three people in custody, and verified a series of violations of discipline and law that the three of them issued joint law enforcement certificates to the Su Brothers' mafia-type organization, "escorted" their illegal operations, and illegally sought benefits from them.

After breaking the "protective umbrella" and losing the backer, the psychological defense line of the Su brothers was breached, they gave up confrontation, and quickly confessed all the facts of the crime. The cracking of the Su Brothers' mafia-type organization case is a typical example of neijiang discipline inspection and supervision organs and public security organs jointly handling cases and jointly cracking down on criminal syndicates and evil forces and their "protective umbrellas."

Soon after, the Neijiang Shizhong District People's Court sentenced Su Cheng to 23 years in prison for nine crimes, including organizing and leading a mafia-type organization. Yao Li and Chen Junbo were expelled from the party and dismissed from public office, and Liu Junxiang was dismissed from public office, and all three were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment after trial by the court.

"As long as we grasp the key to the problem, let the existing evidence constitute a complete chain of evidence, and the contradiction between the evidence and between the evidence and the facts of the case can be reasonably eliminated, the facts of the crime can be determined." When it comes to handling the case with "zero confessions", Li Jianming has already had quite a good experience.

Cadres and the masses work together to break down the "protective umbrella"

When Li Jianming handled the Chen Hong's mafia-type organization case, the "10.16" project, he was also faced with the test of "zero confession" verdict.

Since 2000, Chen Hong's gang has amassed wealth in zizhong county and surrounding areas by opening casinos and forced transactions, and extorted and extorted by means of beatings and intimidation, harming one party. When criminal compulsory measures were taken, Chen Hong took a tough attitude and refused to confess to the relevant crimes. "And the people persecuted by the gang neither dare to report and accuse the public security organs, nor do they dare to come forward to testify, because they are afraid of retaliation." Therefore, Li Jianming suggested that the "umbrella crackdown" be integrated into the anti-gang crime campaign, and the "umbrella first, then the anti-gang crime" model should be adopted to intervene in the investigation and handling of the case in advance.

After taking over the case, Li Jianming and the comrades of the special case group dug deep along the line and soon discovered Zeng Lijian, the former captain of the public security management brigade of the Zizhong County Public Security Bureau, who had built this "protective umbrella." Zeng Lijian took advantage of his position to repeatedly ventilate information and support Chen Hong's gang to help them evade legal sanctions.

Subsequently, Zeng Lijian was filed and investigated, which also made the masses feel the confidence and determination of the discipline inspection and supervision organs and the public security organs to sweep away criminal syndicates and eliminate evil forces, and they could finally stand up and testify against the criminal facts of Chen Hong's gang with confidence. With the help and support of the masses, the special case group cracked down on each case and quickly removed the "protective umbrella" composed of 7 people's policemen, including Zeng Lijian, and 12 party-member cadres, including Du Jun, a staff member of the county agricultural and rural bureau, and 12 party members and cadres involved in criminal syndicates and evil and corruption.

Soon after, the Dongxing District People's Court of Neijiang City sentenced Chen Hong to 24 years' imprisonment for organizing and leading a mafia-type organization, extortion, and picking quarrels and provoking trouble. In October 2019, Zeng Lijian was expelled from the party and dismissed from public office, and in September 2020, the Longchang Municipal People's Court sentenced Zeng Lijian to seven years in prison for conniving at a mafia-type organization and accepting bribes. The other 6 cadres and policemen who served as "protective umbrellas" for Chen Hong's gang and 12 party members and cadres involved in criminal syndicates and evil deeds were punished by party discipline and state law.

In-depth summary to promote long-term and long-term treatment

Sweeping away organized crime and eliminating evil is a tough battle, and the dangers contained in it are self-evident. Someone asked Li Jianming: "The criminal and evil forces are so rampant, you are not afraid of retaliation?" Li Jianming said with a smile: "I didn't know to be afraid before, but then someone reminded me that when I eat in public, I should sit against the wall to prevent someone from sneaking up from behind." After hearing this, I felt a little scared, but when I thought that we had the support of the party and the masses of the people behind us, there was nothing to be afraid of! ”

In the three years of sweeping away organized crime and eliminating evil and "breaking the umbrella and breaking the net", Li Jianming and his colleagues silently endured many sleepless nights. "Due to the pressure of handling cases, I often have insomnia. I thought it was just myself, but then I went on a business trip and found that other colleagues had the same problem. Li Jianming said that only by thoroughly eradicating the soil where criminal syndicates and evil forces breed can he sleep peacefully.

To this end, he never stopped thinking: "Why are there evil forces?" Why do the criminal and evil forces take advantage of the momentum? How to prevent the emergence of 'protective umbrellas' and 'networks'? Relying on the work experience of carrying out special struggles, Li Jianming conducted an in-depth analysis of more than 200 cases in the city, formed an analysis report on the problems of political and legal cadres and policemen involved in criminal syndicates and corruption and acting as "protective umbrellas", and put forward six specific measures such as paying close attention to the "high-risk connection" of the political and legal system, strengthening the "power constraint" of law enforcement and case handling, and exploring the implementation of the reporting system for individual matters related to personnel in key posts. These measures are highly targeted and operable, and have played an important role in preventing public officials in the political and legal system from violating their duties.

In order to realize the mutual exchange between the discipline inspection and supervision organs of Neijiang City and the public security organs in the investigation and handling of cases involving criminal syndicates and evil forces, Li Jianming also promoted the establishment of a two-way transfer mechanism for clues on problems related to criminal syndicates and evil forces, effectively linking the public security organs' sweeping away of criminal syndicates and eliminating evil forces with the discipline inspection and supervision organs' "cracking down on umbrellas and breaking the nets," and effectively promoting the long-term and long-term rule of "cracking down on umbrellas and breaking nets." (Correspondent Cao Yidan)