US businessman Vincent Wu accused of being mob boss in China

When more than 500 policemen swooped in to arrest 40 suspected gangsters in southern China last year, the alleged kingpin was a Los Angeles businessman who had hoisted an American flag amid a crowd to welcome Xi Jinping to California.

Vincent Wu’s children and lawyers say he’s an upstanding, philanthropic Chinese-American entrepreneur who has been framed by business foes who want to seize his assets, including a nine-storey shopping mall. But police in the southern city of Guangzhou say he was a ruthless mob boss who led gangsters with nicknames such as “Old Crab” and “Ferocious Mouth”.

Wu is expected to stand trial within weeks in Guangzhou on charges of heading a crime gang that kidnapped rivals, threw acid at a judge, set fire to farmers’ sheds, operated illegal gambling dens and committed other offences. Wu has told his lawyers that police interrogators tortured him into confessing.

In the absence of an independent legal system, the truth may never emerge. And although Wu is a naturalised US citizen, American diplomats have not been able to see him because China recognises only his residency in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The case provides a glimpse into the often murky world of business in China. Widespread corruption means entrepreneurs can cosy up with police and run roughshod over the law, but they are also vulnerable if their rivals gang up with local authorities.

When disgraced politician Bo Xilai led the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, hundreds of businesspeople were accused of involvement in organised crime; many were believed to have been tortured into confessing while authorities seized their assets. Bo was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power, but allegations that the businessmen were wrongfully convicted were not aired at his trial.

Wu was detained in June last year in a dramatic pre-dawn operation involving hundreds of police across Guangdong province, which includes Guangzhou and Wu’s hometown of Huizhou.

He is charged with getting an associate to throw acid at a judge who ruled against him in a lawsuit, and with ordering thugs to set fire to sheds owned by farmers who refused his offer of compensation to clear off land he wanted to develop. He’s also accused of operating illegal casinos that raked in 48 million yuan (US$7.8 million), and of attacking or kidnapping people who crossed him in various disputes. About 30 other people face related charges of gang crimes.