By Wang Huazhong

CHONGQING, CHINA - The sentencing of 23-year-old twin gang bosses - the youngest godfathers ever convicted in the municipality - has got locals talking about the growing problem of young delinquents.

Photo: China Daily

Zhang Bo and Zhang Tao were each jailed for 17 years.

Residents said the gang founded by the brothers two years ago was full of members who "still wear baby faces". The youngest gang member arrested by police during the crackdown was 19.

The twins from Wanzhou district were also fined 100,000 yuan ($14,600) each for organizing and leading a mafia-style gang, running gambling houses, intentional injury of others, intentional damage of other's assets and illegal detention.

The convictions in Chongqing No 2 intermediate people's court followed a trial in which Zhang Bo claimed: "I can't have formed any sort of organization. I've never even heard of black society (a mafia-style gang)."

Twelve people were found guilty on Friday of being a part of the brothers' gang. They will each serve between one year and 13 and half years in jail.

Nine other defendants were cleared of being part of the criminal gang but found guilty of various charges and sentenced to between six months behind bars and nine years.

The gang bosses said they do not plan to appeal their convictions after hearing the verdict, reported cqnews.net.

The court heard that the gang ran mobile gambling dens in townships around Wanzhou district.

They collected hundreds of thousands of yuan from the illegal gambling enterprise.

Zhang Bo told the court at the start of the trial that he had earned 80,000 yuan from the gambling dens and he said his brother did not play a role in the organization.

After the trial, locals called on the authorities to clamp down on the rising problem of youth crime.

A netizen writing anonymously from Chongqing on the city's official news website urged the judiciary "to deal with immature cats (such as Zhang's gang) in the same way they would with a tiger."

"They were menacing people's lives. All evil-minded people who assault and bully ordinary people should be sent to jail for a long time, regardless of their age," said 35-year-old local fruit shop owner, Zhang Yuanyuan.

"It's a failure of our education system and a shame on all of us that these young bosses did not even realize they were organizing and leading a gang," said local accountant Emma Xie.