China News Service, Guangzhou, December 1 (Fang Weibin, Quan Xiaoqing, Peng Sitong) The Guangdong High People’s Court notified on the 1st that the Intermediate People’s Court of Shantou City, Guangdong Province issued a final ruling on Yang Zhulong and other 26 people involved in a gangster case, rejected the appeal and upheld the original Sentenced.
Previously, the Longhu District People’s Court of Shantou City had committed crimes of organizing and leading a triad organization, opening a casino, provoking trouble, illegal detention, intentional injury, extortion, assault, fraud, bigamy, and several crimes. The fine was sentenced to the defendant Yang Zhulong’s 25-year imprisonment, and the confiscation of all personal property without parole.
The defendant Zheng Yiqiang was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 800,000 yuan (RMB, the same below) for the crime of participating in a triad organization, the crime of creating disturbances, the crime of extortion, the crime of illegal detention, and the crime of fraud.
The remaining 24 defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment.
After the sentence was pronounced, 17 people including Yang Zhulong appealed to the Shantou Intermediate People's Court.
The court of second instance found that since 2008, Yang Zhulong has used his clan members as a team to recruit and win over social delinquents. He opened casinos in Jinping and Longhu districts of Shantou City for profit, accumulating original capital and expanding membership. The formation of a triad organization with Yang Zhulong as the leader, basic fixed backbone members and a large number of people.
In 2016, when Yang Zhulong opened a casino, he successively established Xinheng Non-financing Guarantee Co., Ltd. and Xinlong Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd., with members of the organization assuming important positions in the company, and using Xinlong as a guise to cover up Xinheng's illegal lending activities.
From January to May 2017, Yang Zhulong, Zheng Yiqiang and others lent to the victim Chen several times and signed loan agreements, deducting Chen's loan principal under the names of "handling fees" and "industry practices".
Chen was unable to repay the so-called principal and interest. Zheng Yiqiang continued to induce Chen to sign a loan to repay the previous arrears, gradually increasing Chen's debt through the method of "repaying the loan with a loan", thereby continuously arbitrating the principal and interest of his loan.
Chen's total amount of extortion was 2.22 million yuan.
The Yang Zhulong gangs and Zheng Yiqiang gangs have repeatedly carried out criminal acts such as illegal lending, provocation, illegal detention, and extortion. They have seized huge amounts of illegal profits and severely disrupted the local economic and social order.
The court of second instance held that the facts found in the original judgment were clear, the evidence was reliable and sufficient, the conviction was accurate, the sentence was appropriate, and the trial procedures were legal, so it made the aforementioned ruling in accordance with the law.
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