Bo Xilai is a Chinese former politician who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges. He came to prominence through his tenures as Mayor of Dalian and then the governor of Liaoning. From 2004 to November 2007,he served as Minister of Commerce. Between 2007 and 2012,he served as a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing,a major interior municipality. He was generally considered the main political opponent of Xi Jinping before Xi became the paramount leader of China.
Cheung Tze-keung was a notorious Hong Kong gangster also known as "Big Spender". He was a kidnapper,robber,arms smuggler and was wanted for murder. He was best known for having masterminded the abduction of Walter Kwok and Victor Li Tzar-kuoi,son of Li Ka-Shing.
Zhou Yongkang is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC),China's highest decision-making body,and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei) between 2007 and 2012,making him one of the most powerful leaders in China. In that position,Zhou oversaw China's security apparatus and law enforcement institutions,with power stretching into courts,prosecution agencies,police forces,paramilitary forces,and intelligence organs. He was convicted of corruption-related charges in 2014 and expelled from the CCP in the same year.
The United Bamboo Gang,also known as the Bamboo Union,is the largest of Taiwan's three main criminal Triads. They are reported to have roughly 20,000 members. The membership consists largely of waishengren and has had historic ties to the Kuomintang;they are said to be motivated as much by political ideology as by profit. They are known to simply call themselves "businessmen",but in reality,are also involved in organized killings and drug trafficking. The gang gained global notoriety when it became directly involved in politics in the early 1980s.
The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC),commonly referred to as Zhongyang Zhengfawei in Chinese,is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responsible for "political and legal affairs". Based on the principles of Leninism and democratic centralism,the organization acts as the overseer and coordinator of all legal enforcement authorities,including the Ministries of State Security,Public Security and Justice,as well as the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate. All provincial,municipal,county and autonomous region CCP committees have their own political and legal affairs commissions.
Chen Chi-li,nicknamed King Duck or Dry Duck,was a Taiwanese gangster from China,best known for heading the United Bamboo Gang. His murder of dissident journalist Henry Liu in Daly City,California,United States,in 1984 has been described by the Financial Times as "the most prominent example of the Kuomintang's co-operation with gangsters in upholding its dictatorship".
Wang Yang is a Chinese retired politician who served as the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 2018 to 2023. He was also the fourth-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party from 2017 to 2022.
Sun Zhengcai is a former Chinese politician and senior regional official. From 2012 to 2017,Sun served as the Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing,an interior municipality,and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Prior to that,he served as the Party Secretary of Jilin province,and Minister of Agriculture of China.
Wang Hongju is a retired Chinese politician. He was the mayor of Chongqing,one of four direct-controlled municipalities in China,from 2003 to 2009. He served under Bo Xilai,who headed the Communist Party organization of the city.
In 2010,a number of events took place in organized crime. On the first day of the year,reporter Jose Luis Romero was kidnapped for reporting on the Mexican Mafia. While investigating the kidnapping,policeman Jesus Escalante was killed. The Mexican Drug War is an armed conflict taking place between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico. Mexican drug cartels,or drug trafficking organizations,have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders,particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels,have led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States.
Wen Qiang was a Chinese judicial official who was arrested and executed during the Chongqing gang trials.
Wang Lijun is a Chinese former police chief. He served as vice-mayor and police chief of the megacity of Chongqing. Wang is ethnically Mongol and was born in Arxan,Inner Mongolia. Prior to taking on positions in Chongqing,Wang served as vice-mayor and police chief of Jinzhou,Liaoning,and the police chief of Tieling,Liaoning.
The Wang Lijun incident was a major Chinese political scandal which began in February 2012 when Wang Lijun,vice-mayor of Chongqing,was abruptly demoted,after revealing to the United States consulate details of British businessman Neil Heywood's murder and subsequent cover-up. Amidst rumors of political infighting with Chongqing Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai,Wang arranged a meeting on 6 February at the US consulate in Chengdu,where he remained for over 30 hours. Observers speculated that Wang may have been attempting to defect or to seek refuge from Bo. He then left the consulate of his own volition and was taken to Beijing by agents and the vice minister Qiu Jin (邱进) of the Ministry of State Security. The Chongqing municipal government declared that Wang was receiving "vacation-style medical treatment".
Neil Heywood was an English businessman who worked in China. He was associated with Bo Xilai.
Gu Kailai is a Chinese former lawyer and businesswoman. She is the second wife of former Politburo member Bo Xilai,one of China's most influential politicians until he was stripped of his offices in 2012. In August 2012,Gu was convicted of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood and was given a suspended death sentence,later commuted to life imprisonment in December 2015.
The "Chongqing model" was a series of social and economic policies adopted in the Chinese megalopolis of Chongqing. It is most closely associated with Bo Xilai,who served as the city's Communist Party secretary from 2007 to 2012,though some policies were put in place by Bo's predecessors.
The Consulate General of the United States,Chengdu, was a diplomatic mission in Wuhou District,Chengdu,China from 1985 to 2020.
Xu Ming was a Chinese entrepreneur and billionaire. He was the founder of the conglomerate Dalian Shide Group,and the chairman of Dalian Shide F.C.,China's top football club in the 2000s. In 2005,Forbes ranked him the eighth-richest person in China,with an estimated net worth of US$1.05 billion,but his net worth declined to $690 million in 2011. The 2013 Hurun Report estimated his wealth to be around US$490 million,ranking 676th in China.
Zhang Jun was a Chinese robber and serial killer. From June 1993 to September 2000,Zhang and his associates robbed a total of 22 stores in Chongqing,Hunan,Hubei,Yunnan and Guangxi,killing 28 people and wounding 23. The total amount stolen was alleged to be 5.36 million yuan.
The 1983 "Strike Hard" Anti-crime Campaign,or "Stern Blow" Anti-crime Campaign of 1983,was a massive anti-crime campaign initiated by Deng Xiaoping beginning in September 1983,then paramount leader of China. The campaign lasted for three years and five months,and was launched largely as a result of the nationwide worsening public safety post Cultural Revolution initiated by Mao Zedong from 1966 to 1976 during which rapes,murders,robberies,and arson occurred en-masse and even cannibalism took place in some parts of China due to the breakdown of social order and the public security system during that time.
