■ Dialogue
Written by reporter Bo Chen of this edition, photographed by reporter Guibin Wang of this edition. The female ringleader Du and her husband Cui were sentenced to 14 years and 13 years in prison respectively for organizing prostitution and fined. The remaining 32 accomplices were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 9 months to 7 years for assisting in the organization of prostitution and were also fined. Four minors were handled in a separate case. Yang had been administratively detained four times before. He said he always thought that distributing prostitution cards was not a big deal. "I didn't know I would be sentenced to seven years this time after being detained every time I was caught."
Yang distributed prostitution cards for four years. Meanwhile, Cui and several other defendants also claimed that although they did not understand the law, they believed that the punishment was too severe and could not accept it, so they would consider appealing. Deputy Director Yalin Zhang of the Criminal Division of Fengtai Court stated that the sentencing of the 71 people was mainly based on their roles and profits in the joint crime. For example, Hu employed eight people specifically to distribute prostitution cards and was sentenced to six years in prison; Zhou was sentenced to four years in prison for printing prostitution cards. In addition, Wan, Zeng, Yang and five others who had been punished twice or more for public security offenses were severely punished this time and sentenced to five to seven years in prison.
In the morning of yesterday, 34 defendants were brought into the court after gathering. Photo by reporter Guibin Wang of this edition. After the verdict was announced, Du cried out: "The sentence is too heavy, I will appeal." Photo by reporter Guibin Wang of this edition.
Du: Not fixed, there were five during the period when I was caught. Each person mostly received two or three customers a day, sometimes four or five.
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Reporter: How many prostitutes are under your control?
Du: When things were good, we could make more than 5,000 yuan a day, but when things were bad, we only made about 500 yuan a day.
■ Case
Zhang Yalin introduced that the reason these families committed crimes together was, on the one hand, misunderstanding of the law, thinking that they would only be detained if caught, and on the other hand, the huge profit from distributing prostitution cards led to following trends. "The police retrieved the bank transaction records of one of the card distributors, who deposited 59,000 yuan into his account in three months."
【Legal Interpretation】
Reporter: How did you manage the card distributors and the prostitutes?
The female leader thought the sentence was too heavy.
Du: Just introducing a few prostitutes, and I was sentenced to 14 years? There are so many prostitutes in society, why choose me as an example? I know it's wrong, but the crime is not serious enough for such a heavy sentence. Social mores are like this, prostitution has existed throughout history. I don't know the law well, I always thought it wasn't a big deal.
The sentencing of Du and her husband mainly considered four factors: the long duration of the crime, from 2007 to last year, organized prostitution lasted for four years; the couple had more than ten prostitutes under their control; nearly 70 card distributors under them, with a large number of cards distributed; the couple made a high profit, each prostitute paid 1,000 yuan management fee per month, and hundreds of yuan were taken from each prostitution act, accumulating a large amount of profit.
It was understood that all the involved prostitutes were administratively detained and were not held criminally responsible.
The judge read the judgment stating that since 2007, Cui and his wife Du gradually monopolized the card distribution solicitation activities in the Asian Games Village area of Chaoyang District. Under the instruction of the couple, card distributors handed out solicitation cards to people coming to Beijing at the entrances of various hotels. After the customers contacted the card distributors through the solicitation cards and negotiated the price and location of prostitution, Du and Cui arranged for the prostitutes they managed to provide prostitution services. After Du and Cui recovered the prostitution fees, they reserved a portion as commission and then distributed the money to the prostitutes and the card distributors. Wan, Zeng and 33 others either engaged in card distribution solicitation for years or made profits by making solicitation cards.
■ Inside Story
Reporter: How did you get into this business?
Law enforcement personnel revealed that Cui had foreign prostitutes under him, and the youngest prostitute was underage. For fairness, the prostitutes queued up according to their numbers when they started work every night, and each provided prostitution services two to three times a night.
Prostitutes paid "fees" and queued up for work according to their numbers.
Reporter: How much profit do you make every day?
"Now regret seems too late, my daughter is only ten months old, thinking about going to jail for this crime, I don't know how to tell her in the future." Yang admitted frankly.
【Case Analysis】
According to the defendants' confession, there were three groups of people distributing cards in the Asian Games Village area, the Hubei group where this gang was located had the most people, followed by the Northeast group and the Shaanxi group. Du and her husband always maintained single-line contact with the prostitutes and card distributors. Card distributors gathered around various hotels every night, either handing out cards to guests or inserting them into hotel guest rooms. After the customer called, the card distributor negotiated the price of prostitution based on the class of the hotel where the customer stayed, ranging from 2,000 yuan to 500 yuan. After receiving the call from the card distributor, Du and her husband arranged for dedicated unlicensed taxi drivers to pick up and drop off the prostitutes. To meet the needs of the customers, Du specially prepared a book of fake invoices to provide to the customers.
■ Behind the Scenes
Organizing prostitution can be punishable by death
Regarding Du's belief that the sentence was too heavy, Zhang Yalin explained that organized prostitution has always been a key crime targeted for crackdown in our country, the starting sentence for organizing prostitution is five years, those with serious circumstances are sentenced to more than ten years; those with particularly serious circumstances are sentenced to life imprisonment or even death.
Presiding Judge Zhang Yalin introduced that this gang alone had more than 20 couples, and the Mole Kart entered the top ten of the iPad list. "There are several advantages to relatives committing crimes together: first, avoiding outsiders participating in the outflow of dirty money; second, facilitating division of labor, some distribute cards while others answer calls and negotiate prices; third, relatives won't have internal conflicts and avoid exposure."
A 28-year-old woman from Shenyang, Du, with only a junior high school education, controlled a prostitution gang of nearly 70 people.
"I definitely made a mistake, but it shouldn't be this severe, I will appeal." A 28-year-old female leader Du cried after hearing the verdict, "I just introduced some prostitutes, how come I got a heavier sentence than many robbers?"
Card distribution earns easy money, pulling the old mother into the gang
It is reported that this is the largest card distribution prostitution gang ever sentenced domestically.
In the morning of yesterday, 34 defendants (22 men and 12 women) were brought into the court one by one by the judicial police, the oldest was 52 years old, and the youngest was 19 years old.
This time, except for Yang's mother who was sentenced to probation due to minor crimes, the remaining six were sentenced to actual imprisonment, among which Yang was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Yang said that he met a fellow townsman who distributed prostitution cards in the Asian Games Village when he worked there in 2008, and then joined the business. Because of the good income, relatives in his family also came over, including his mother who was 57 years old. "I originally wanted my mother to come to Beijing to help take care of my child. Seeing that distributing cards could earn money, my mother also helped me distribute some. Who would have thought that she would also be implicated." Yang said.
The court's first-instance judgment determined that Du and Cui were guilty of organizing prostitution and were sentenced to 14 years and 13 years in prison respectively, deprived of political rights for three years, and fined 100,000 yuan. The other 32 people were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from nine months to seven years for assisting in the organization of prostitution and were also fined. Four other accomplices in assisting the organization of prostitution were handled separately because they were minors.
In the morning of yesterday, 34 defendants (22 men and 12 women) were brought into the court one by one by the judicial police, the oldest was 52 years old, and the youngest was 19 years old.
This time, except for Yang's mother who was sentenced to probation due to minor crimes, the remaining six were sentenced to actual imprisonment, among which Yang was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Yang said that he met a fellow townsman who distributed prostitution cards in the Asian Games Village when he worked there in 2008, and then joined the business. Because of the good income, relatives in his family also came over, including his mother who was 57 years old. "I originally wanted my mother to come to Beijing to help take care of my child. Seeing that distributing cards could earn money, my mother also helped me distribute some. Who would have thought that she would also be implicated." Yang said.
Reporter: The file shows that you earned more than 100,000 yuan in four months from February to June 2011 when you were caught.
Du: With the high cost of living in Beijing, I didn't make much money, only taking a hundred yuan each time, making about ten or eight thousand yuan a year.