BEIJING, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Six people were sentenced to death in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Wednesday on charges of connections to organized crime, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Yang Tianqing and Liu Chenghu were convicted of murder and organizing a nine-member criminal gang. They were sentenced to death at the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, Xinhua said, adding that Yang, the 35-year-old gang leader, was also fined 500,000 yuan (over $73,000).

The news agency said two other members of Yang's gang, Jian Shaokun and Zeng Chuan, were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, and another five people in the gang received jail terms from 11 years to life.

Another trial took place at Chongqing's No. 3 Intermediate People's Court, which handed down the death penalty to Liu Zhongyong on identical charges, the news agency said, adding his right-hand man, Zheng Xin, received the death penalty with a two-year reprieve.

According to a court statement, quoted by Xinhua, Liu's gang was responsible for murdering one person and injuring at least four others in Chongqing last year. The statement said 20 gang members were given prison terms from one to 17 years.

More than 1,500 suspects linked to organized crime gangs, including 19 suspected gang leaders, have been arrested in the Chongqing Municipality, where a large-scale anti-mafia operation is underway.

Chinese top judicial and police officials were found to have been implicated in mafia links.