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A Chinese judicial body has sentenced a group of top figures of a well-known Burmese mafia to capital punishment as Beijing continues its campaign on scam operations in the region.

Altogether, 21 Bai family individuals and collaborators were sentenced of scams, murder, assault and additional crimes, reported a state media document published on the judicial website.

The group is among a few of organized crime groups that rose to power in the 2000s and converted the poor remote area of the town into a profitable center of casinos and entertainment zones.

In recent years they turned to scams in which many of illegally moved people, several of them from China, are trapped, abused and compelled to defraud victims in unlawful operations estimated at billions of dollars.

Details of the Sentencing

Mafia leader the patriarch and his son the younger Bai were included in the five figures sentenced to death by the court in Shenzhen. Another individual, Hu Xiaojiang and A fourth person were the remaining convicted.

A couple of figures of the Bai family mafia were received suspended death sentences. Several were condemned to life in prison, while nine others were given jail sentences between a period of 3-20 years.

This family, who controlled their own armed group, set up forty-one compounds to host their online fraud operations and betting establishments, officials reported.

Extent of Illegal Schemes

Such unlawful operations involved exceeding twenty-nine billion yuan ($4.1 billion; £3.1bn). They also resulted in the deaths of six Chinese nationals, the self-inflicted death of one and several assaults, official sources reported.

The harsh punishments issued by the court are within China's campaign to eliminate the large scam rings in the region - and issue a strong signal to further illegal organizations.

Background of the Clans

These families became dominant in the early 2000s with the support of a prominent figure - who currently heads Myanmar's military government. The leader had wanted to prop up associates in the town after replacing its earlier warlord.

Among the groups, the Bais were "the most powerful", the son before stated to official sources.

During that period, the clan was the leading in both the political and military circles," the individual said in a film about the clan, aired on official channels in July.

Within that film, a employee at their fraud facilities narrated the harm he had endured there: besides being assaulted, he had his nails extracted with pliers and a couple of his digits amputated with a tool.

More Charges

The son is included in those who were sentenced to death recently. He has also been independently convicted of planning to smuggle and make eleven tons of narcotics, official sources stated.

End of the Groups

The families' end came in recent times as political winds shifted.

Previously Beijing has encouraged the regime to rein in scam operations in the area.

Recently, the law enforcement released legal actions for the most prominent figures of these families.

The patriarch, the Bai family's patriarch, was included in the warlords who were transferred to Beijing from the country in the beginning of the year.

For what reason is the state putting significant resources to pursue the groups?" a official said in the July report.

The purpose is to caution other people, regardless of who you are, your base, when you carry out these serious acts targeting the nationals, you will face consequences."