The trial of 22 alleged organized crime gang members began Tuesday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

The trial was the first of the series of organized crime hearings in Chongqing to involve money laundering charges, a court official said Tuesday.

An official of the First Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing Municipality said charges against the 22 people also included organizing, leading and participating in a criminal organization, using threats of violence to compel trade, extortion, organizing prostitution, intentional injury, falsifying accounts, and operating gambling establishments, the official said.

The gang had been operating since March 2003 when ring leader Wang Xingqiang allegedly began to organize ex-convicts and unemployed people in a violent extortion racket, the court heard.

A policeman named Su Yang was also charged with involvement in the criminal organization and money laundering.

Wang Xingqiang and other defendants were denying all or some of the charges, said the official, without giving details.

The trial continues.

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