30 March 2012 :

a 45-year-old mafia boss convicted of organized crime and other criminal offenses in east China's Shandong Province was sentenced to death at a first-instance trial, the local news portal dzwww.com reports. Nie Lei was convicted of organized crime, intentional injury, organized prostitution, operating gambling houses, illegally possessing guns and gun trading, according to the Intermediate People's Court in Qingdao city, Shandong Province. Police busted Nie's mafia-style gang in June 2010 after some of its members allegedly attacked and injured people at a nightclub in a Qingdao hotel. More than 360 police officers were involved in the yearlong investigation that led to the arrest of Nie and other gang members from 17 provinces and municipalities. Nie, a Qingdao resident, was accused of extorting protection fees from local nightclubs. Nie's gang was described as the biggest mafia-style organization to exist in Qingdao since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.