Xi's Purge of Mafia Boss: The $6.6B Billionaire Facade, Heading Sichuan's Largest Mafia Empire

Liu Han, chairman of the Sichuan Province Chamber of Commerce, once made waves across China with his staggering fortune of $6.6 billion. He further won over the public with his extraordinary acts of charity, such as building local schools that remain standing through the devastating 2008 Tangshan earthquake. But this seemingly perfect image was nothing more than a facade. In February 2014, the entire nation was shocked as the truth emerged, behind the guise of a successful businessman and celebrated philanthropist. Liu Han was, in fact, a notorious crime boss running an extensive underground empire. He was the right-hand man of Zhou Yongkang, leveraging this powerful political connection to climb the ladder of wealth and hide his illegal activities. In today's video, we'll take you through Liu Han's ascent to the heights of fortune and power, the tangled web of political ties that shielded him, and the ultimate collapse of his dark empire, the facade of a successful entrepreneur. Liu Han was born in 1965 in Sichuan, China, into a family of five siblings. His father was a middle school teacher, and his mother worked as a street vendor. Among the siblings, Liu Han and his younger brother, Liu Wei, were inseparable. Like his older brother, Liu Wei was known for his philanthropic efforts and his reputation as a successful entrepreneur. He was even entrusted with the honor of carrying the Olympic torch through Sichuan during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At just 21 years old, Liu Han ventured into the business world, dealing in furniture and construction materials. Within six months, he earned his first substantial profits. Leveraging connections through friends, he established ties with officials from the Guanghan Municipal Commission for Institutional Reform, linking his business with state-owned enterprises. In 1991, Liu attended a technical program at Sichuan United University. However, his major breakthrough came in 1993 when he entered the futures trading market. With an initial capital of 2 million yuan, around $333,000, Liu turned it into a tenfold profit. Two years later, he shifted his focus to Sichuan's raw material markets, speculating in distillery ingredients. In just four months, he amassed over 200 million yuan, approximately $33 million. During this period, he and Liu Wei also operated a casino in Guanghan. Naturally, such establishments required protection to function, so Liu Han formed a gang of local thugs to secure operations. When authorities attempted to confiscate gambling equipment and impose fines, Liu Han and his brother brazenly broke the seals and armed themselves to fend off officials. In 1995, Liu Han invested in a real estate project in a village near Mianyang, Sichuan. However, the project faced local opposition due to unfair compensation. The situation escalated when one of Liu Han's security personnel fatally stabbed Xiang Wei, the leader of the protesting farmers. After this incident, a local resident noted, no one dared to complain anymore, and the project proceeded smoothly. Liu Han's associates faced no prosecution. By March 1997, Liu Han founded Hanlong Group in Mianyang, expanding into financial speculation, real estate, tourism, and energy. His political connections at both provincial and central levels secured lucrative contracts and major projects for the company. To protect the group's operations, Liu recruited criminals as company security staff and directed his brother to stockpile weapons and ammunition, maintaining a private arsenal in Guanghan. In a 2010 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Liu Han declared, I, Liu Han, have always been victorious. Liu Han has never failed. On the surface, Liu was a titan in the mining industry, earning the nickname the Tiger. Hanlong Group extended its reach beyond Sichuan, acquiring large iron ore mines in Africa, including Cameroon and Australia's Sundance resources. Liu's visit to Cameroon included inviting the country's president and ministers to Chengdu as his guests to pave the way for further market expansion in Africa. By 2013, Liu Han controlled over 70 subsidiaries spanning energy, mining, real estate, finance, and securities. His official net worth was valued at 40 billion yuan, about $6.6 billion. According to Forbes, Hanlong Mining was one of China's largest private enterprises, valued at $3 billion and employing approximately 12,000 people. Yet beneath the facade of wealth and success, Liu Han was a ruthless mafia kingpin, presiding over Sichuan's largest criminal empire. The truth unveiled the mafia kingpin's downfall. The crimes of Liu Han and his brother Li Wei began to surface through a series of crackdowns on criminal gangs. Since 1993, Liu Han's gang had terrorized many areas of Sichuan province, carrying out nine murders. In February 1999, Wang Yongcheng, a Mianyang crime boss, threatened to blow up Liu Han's company. Liu reportedly told his underlings, there's nothing to fear, and shortly after, Wang was gunned down in the street. In May 2002, two of Liu Han's bodyguards got into an altercation with a group of people at an entertainment center in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. Liu dispatched reinforcements, leading to a confrontation that left one person dead and several others injured. Following the incident, only one bodyguard served a four-year prison sentence while the others walked free. Liu Han quickly became the mafia kingpin of Guang'an and Mianyang. Anyone who crossed him often had to flee their homes. It's estimated that over 100 people were terrorized by Liu's gang, yet most were too afraid to report it. In 2008, Chen Fuwei, a gang leader from Guang'an, was released from prison and vowed revenge against the Liu brothers. In response, Liu Wei orchestrated an attack, resulting in a broad daylight shootout. The incident left three dead and injured two innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. The public was deeply alarmed by this brazen display of violence. Shortly afterward, police arrested two suspects who quickly implicated Liu Wei. This revelation began to unravel the truth about the Liu brothers' criminal empire. In a 2013 investigation, authorities seized an arsenal from the gang, including three grenades, 20 rifles, 677 rounds of ammunition, 2,163 shotgun shells, and over 100 various knives and swords. By late February 2014, prosecutors indicted Liu Han and his 36-member criminal syndicate for 15 serious crimes, including organizing and leading a mafia-like gang, intentional harm, illegal detention, running unlicensed casinos, purchasing and storing illegal weapons, and fraud. In August 2014, Liu Han was sentenced to death, a verdict widely seen as marking the end of one of Sichuan's most ruthless criminal organizations. However, the case underscored a deeper issue. In China, it is well understood that influential entrepreneurs and public figures often maintain close ties with senior officials, who wield real power and control over national assets. Without backing from high-ranking officials, could Liu Han have built and sustained such a formidable mafia empire? How, then, was Liu Han able to brazenly flout the law for so long? Close ties with high-ranking officials Liu Han didn't rise to power alone. His calculated strategy to secure allies in high places began with his wife, Yang Shih. According to investigators, Yang skillfully befriended the wives of influential officials, creating a bridge for Liu Han to approach their husbands. Yang later revealed to authorities how Liu Han turned bribery into an art form. He often took me along to entertain officials, she confessed. At these gatherings, he'd present extravagant gifts like gold and jade, sometimes worth millions of yuan. Gambling was another way he would bribe them. Liu's network of protection extended deep into Sichuan's police and judicial systems. Officials who should have been upholding the law instead became his enablers. Three were eventually exposed and indicted. A political commissar from the Sichuan Public Security Bureau, a deputy prosecutor from Shifang City, and a finance officer from the Sichuan Public Security Bureau. These officials supplied Liu's gang with intelligence, weapons, and ammunition, and even destroyed evidence in criminal cases. In return, they were richly rewarded with cash, luxury watches, cars, and even women. At the heart of Liu Han's empire was his connection to Zhou Yongkang, China's former minister of public security. Their relationship was so close that Liu Han was often described as Zhou's right-hand man. In consolidating local power, Zhou Yongkang served as the party secretary of Sichuan province from 1999 to 2002. During this time, Liu invested over $130 million into projects directly overseen by the province. Zhou's influence smoothed the way for Liu's ventures, a fact acknowledged by a Hanlong Group executive. For a long time, Zhou provided significant support for Liu's business operations. To curry favor with Zhou's family, he spent 20 million yuan on a tourism project worth just 3 million yuan, knowing it would benefit Zhou's son, Zhou Bin. Despite objections from his team over the site's poor location, Liu pushed forward. He said it didn't matter if we took a loss. It was all about maintaining the relationship with Zhou Bin, recalled a Hanlong Group manager. After the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in late 2012, Zhou Yongkang retired as part of routine leadership transitions. However, Xi Jinping's sweeping anti-corruption campaign soon targeted many of Zhou's allies, associates, and family members. Liu Han became one of many caught in this sweeping crackdown, marking the end of his reign. The CCP is the largest mafia organization. In China, mafia organizations often operate under the protection of officials from the Chinese Communist Party, CCP. The higher the level of the mafia organization, the higher the rank of the officials shielding them. In April 2018, a 29-member mafia group in Jingmen City, Hubei Province, was exposed. Its protectors included the former deputy director of Jingmen Public Security, the former head of the Criminal Investigation Team, and the former head of the Traffic Police Division. By the end of 2019, Zhang Yongfu, a mafia boss in Jilin City, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His gang had terrorized Jilin City for 20 years under the protection of 43 CCP officials, including personnel from government agencies, public security, prosecution, and the courts. The highest-ranking official among them was the former chairman of the Jilin City Political Consultative Conference. The collusion between officials and criminal enterprises, along with the blurred lines between authorities and outlaws under the CCP regime, has even been acknowledged by the government itself. In 2018, the Central Discipline Inspection Commission repeatedly published articles exposing the problem. They described scenarios where organized crime fuels business, business funds organized crime, business supports officials, and officials shield organized crime. In some instances, senior police officials actively enabled criminal organizations, with some police chiefs themselves acting as protectors, allowing these criminal forces to operate fearlessly. In early 2018, Xi Jinping launched a campaign to eradicate organized crime. However, commentators remain skeptical of its effectiveness. A Hong Kong-based editorial in Oriental Daily argued that organized crime in mainland China is largely a byproduct of corruption within the government system. The relationship between officials and organized crime is as intertwined as a spider's web, the article noted. It also highlighted the infamous case of Zhou Yongkang shielding Liu Han. The piece also criticized the focus on economic growth during China's 40 years of reform and opening up, which led to moral decay at local government levels. Many local officials are essentially bandits and thugs, it claimed. Luo Yu, a princeling and son of the late General Luo Ruiqing, openly criticized the CCP in letters addressed to Xi Jinping. He bluntly described the CCP as the largest mafia organization. Luo expressed doubts about the success of Xi's anti-crime campaign, stating, To eradicate organized crime, we must first ask, where does it come from? It comes from the Communist Party itself. Using organized crime to fight organized crime, what results can that bring? The public security, prosecution, and court systems in China are essentially mafia organizations themselves, killing, stealing, and acting more ruthlessly than any mafia. Chinese commentator Heng He echoed this sentiment, stating, Even mafia organizations have certain rules they follow, but comparing the CCP to the mafia is actually unfair to the mafia because the CCP has no rules at all. He emphasized, The largest and darkest organized crime force is the CCP itself. Its operations are led by the party, with members that even traditional mafia groups wouldn't accept. The CCP is without question the largest mafia organization in China today.