Chinese Officials Held in Regional Corruption Probe By John Pomfret:

Chinese authorities have detained more than 17 senior provincial and city officials in this southern city over the last two weeks following the arrest of the alleged leader of an organized criminal operation that specialized in gambling, prostitution, illegal bank loans and the laundering of drug money, official sources said.

Judges, senior police officials, prosecutors, tax collectors and agents from the Ministry of State Security were among those detained.

Underscoring the increasingly close connections between organized crime and politicians in China, the alleged gangster, Chen Kai, was a member of a local government agency called the Chinese People's Consultative Congress and jointly ran a hotel and gambling operation with that agency.

That's what you get without democracy.