The real-life Infernal Affairs: China crime gangs planting moles in police forces
In echo of Hollywood script, gang leaders sent their members into cadet school so they could inform on law enforcement after graduating: report
Behind the corruption crisis in resource-rich Shanxi province hides another, even darker, power: organised crime gangs whose tentacles extend to law enforcement agencies - and who are using Macau casinos to generate their income.
Much like in the Hollywood movie The Departed - itself based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs - gang leaders have placed moles in local police forces and have "bought" key members in the government, for whom they provide protection, according to mainland business magazine Caijing.
In one instance the "sparrow gang" of Luliang city planted members in the police cadet school. The gang, led by a man named Feng Xiaochun, sent 15 members to study as cadets, after which most went on to work as police in Zhongyang, a county under Luliang, the report said.
On 18 occasions the moles tipped off their gang members - who operated as debt collectors and thugs for hire - to help them avoid investigators.
When the operation was uncovered in 2004, 67 people, including Feng, were captured, while 47 guns and more than 1,400 bullets were seized.
The report mentions several cases in the past decade in which gangsters, often hired by businessmen, were found working as police chiefs, or had other close connections with the force or prosecutors.