'Godmother' of crime gang stands trial
- Source: Global Times
- [03:03 October 15 2009]
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Dismissed from the taxation bureau for gambling in 2006, Xie allegedly opened more than 80 illicit casinos in the city, and also offered drugs. One of the sites was located on the city's busiest street, opposite the Chongqing Higher People's Court and right under the noses of the Chongqing People's Procuratorate, the report said.
"No one can do anything to me even if I killed people or operated casinos. What else I couldn't manage to do?" she was quoted as saying in a report Wedesday by China Youth Daily. Xie reportedly made the remarks after her gangsters, caught in a police raid in late 2000, were later released and all confiscated money was returned to them.
They were released despite the fact that during the raid, one of her gangsters shot a plainclothes officer dead.
Wen Qiang, Xie's brother-in-law, who served as deputy director of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau from 1992 to 2008, was appointed director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau in July 2008. He is one of senior police officials under investigation for alleged involvement with underworld gangs in Chongqing.
"My brother is God and he is the law. What I need to fear about?" Xie was quoted as saying in 2000, according to China Youth Daily.
Wen was arrested on September 26 for alleged crimes including offering "umbrella protection" to underworld gangs and taking bribes, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The timetable for Wen's trial is still not scheduled.
Xie's family ties to the former police officer and previous media reports that she kept 16 gigolos has created lurid media headlines and remains a hot topic of local gossip.
However, the police refuted one report , saying that Xie has only one gigolo, whom Xie identified in court as 26-year-old Luo Xuan.
About 200 spectators attended the trial. Outside the court building, at least 100 residents waited for the results, CCTV reported.
Some residents are not optimistic about the outcome of the trial.
"The crackdown is really appreciated. But it is hard to uncover all the crimes the gangsters committed. And the sentence may not be the harsh punishment they deserve," Chen Lin, a copywriter for a private company in Chongqing, told the Global Times .
The trial will continue Thursday, according to Xinhua.
