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One China's court has sentenced several top members of an infamous Burmese mafia to execution as Chinese authorities maintains its crackdown on fraudulent operations in the region.

Overall, 21 clan individuals and collaborators were convicted of scams, murder, assault and additional crimes, said a official document released on the court website.

This clan is one of a small number of syndicates that became dominant in the last two decades and transformed the poor remote area of Laukkaing into a wealthy center of casinos and red-light districts.

Recently they shifted to scams in which many of trafficked individuals, several of them from China, are caught, mistreated and forced to cheat targets in illegal enterprises estimated at billions of dollars.

Details of the Judgment

Mafia head the patriarch and his son Bai Yingcang were included in the several men condemned to execution by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and A fourth person were the additional sentenced.

Two individuals of the clan mafia were handed suspended death sentences. Five were given to life in prison, while nine others were given jail terms varying from a period of 3-20 years.

The clan, who controlled their own militia, set up 41 bases to house their online fraud operations and gambling houses, government reported.

Scale of Criminal Activities

Such illegal enterprises entailed exceeding twenty-nine billion Chinese yuan ($4.1bn; over three billion pounds). These activities also led to the demise of several Chinese individuals, the self-inflicted death of an individual and several injuries, reports announced.

The severe penalties handed down by the court are within the Chinese initiative to eradicate the large scam operations in Southeast Asia - and send a stern message to additional criminal groups.

Context of the Families

Such groups rose to power in the 2000s with the help of a prominent figure - who now leads the country's regime. The leader had intended to support partners in Laukkaing after replacing its former leader.

Among the clans, the this family were "the top", Bai Yingcang earlier informed official sources.

During that period, we was the dominant in both the government and military arenas," the individual said in a report about the Bai family, aired on national media in July.

Within that report, a employee at a illegal operations recalled the mistreatment he had experienced there: in addition to being beaten, he had his nails removed with tools and two of his digits cut off with a kitchen knife.

More Allegations

Bai Yingcang is included in those who were condemned to execution recently. The individual has additionally been separately found guilty of planning to traffic and make eleven tons of methamphetamine, reports stated.

Decline of the Groups

Their downfall happened in recent times as political winds altered.

Previously Chinese authorities has pressed the regime to limit fraudulent schemes in Laukkaing.

Recently, the authorities announced legal actions for the leading members of such families.

The patriarch, the Bai family's leader, was among the individuals who were transferred to China from the country in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the Chinese government putting so much effort to go after the four families?" a official stated in the summer film.

"It's to warn groups, regardless of who you are, your location, when you commit such heinous offenses affecting the Chinese people, you will face consequences."