CHINA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER MURDER SPREE

December 4, 2008: four men in China were sentenced to death for killing eight people over nine years, according to Beijing Times.
Between December 1999 and January 2007, the gang, led by Beijing native Xia Keming, 44, killed business partners among other murders, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court found.
The defendants were found guilty of manslaughter, theft, illegally owning guns and deliberately destroying evidence, the court ruled. The gang began the murder spree when Xia Keming asked his brother Xia Kezhi to kill Liu, a business partner, in December 1999. Xia Keming suspected Liu had tipped off police, who caught him smuggling in Tianjin Municipality.
The brothers then met Tao Chun, an ex-convict roommate of Xia Kezhi, and hitman Yang Hui. Together they strangled Liu before dumping his body near Beijing's Beidai Lake.
Other victim’s included Xia Keming's boss, Li, business partner Mi in December 2002, business partner Wu and his girlfriend in December 2003, and Keming’s long time mistress Du and her husband in January 2007. (Sources: Shanghai Daily, 05/12/2008)