The suspects were alleged members of powerful crime families whose political connections, wealth and thousand-strong private armies allowed them to build multibillion-dollar empires on illegal gambling, telecoms and internet fraud, drug production, prostitution, and other illicit activities with impunity.
Now behind bars in Chinese prisons, more than a dozen on death row, their confessions have been beamed through TV screens across China and their alleged crimes detailed in lengthy investigations in Chinese state media.
