The Golden Banana Mutual Assistance Group

When does a legitimate businessmen's association become a criminal syndicate?

The Beijing News ran a fascinating story last week about an alliance of banana wholesalers in Henan which clashed with non-allied wholesalers and ended up being prosecuted under laws related to organized crime.

As the story develops, banana buyers on a trip to Hainan are arrested as wanted fugitives, one suspect alleges that his confession was extracted through torture, and the police move the entire case to a neighboring city after the local procuratorate refuses to authorize arrests.

In the dock, forty-five year old He Yongxing said: We are not gangsters.

On November 4, at the municipal court in Mengzhou, Henan Province (a county-level city under the administration of Jiaozuo City), He Yongxing and four of his companions were in court to be tried for "organized crime" [Article 191 of the Criminal Law].

Before 7 a.m., fruit stand vendors had arrived at the court. There were only 15 observer seats, so more than 200 people stood waiting outside the metal gate until after 7 p.m, when the trial concluded.

Before he was arrested, He Yongxing had been a banana wholesaler at the Fruit and Vegetable Trade Center (hereafter the "Fruit Market") on Fengshou Road in Jiaozuo for around twenty years and was well-known to many fruit vendors.

"I don't believe Laosan (老三, i.e. He Yongxin) is a mobster. He's always eager to help people." Jiang Jicai, who was from the next county over, Wenxian, had always sourced from He Yongxing. he said lots of people had abandoned the day's business to come to court.

"Tagging him with the mob label is really too harsh. This is just a business dispute," said Fruit Market manager Zhu Aiguo, who had also come to observe.

As the court was in session, the Jiaozuo PSB held a press conference in Mengzhou to report on case details.

Wang Deyou, assistant chief of the criminal investigation detachment of the Jiaozuo PSB, said that while He Yongxing may have done good things, helping people and breaking the law are two separate issues.

A conflict started by a banana
Someone carried off Dang Zhengjun's sign. He made another, and it was smeared with black paint.

"The first thing I thought was that my bananas had been stolen," Dang said. He was the plaintiff in the supplemental civil suit attached to He Yongxing's criminal case.

Dang was also in business at the Fruit Market, primarily in wholesale bananas. When he opened up his constant temperature storehouse on the morning of October 16 last year, he saw bananas scattered all over the floor.

He quickly discovered that no one had stolen his bananas: none were missing.

"I suspected that it was their work." Dang named the object of his suspicions. The police later confirmed that it was four people from a competitor, the "Golden Banana Mutual Assistance Group" (金香蕉互助组, hereafter "Golden Banana").

Golden Banana was an organization made up of 21 business at the Fruit Market whose main trade was in wholesale bananas. It was established on April 8 last year and was led by He Yongxing.

Wu Mingfu, a group member, said that setting up Golden Banana enabled them to unify purchasing and set uniform prices, cut costs, and avoid the price pressures that had resulted from malicious competition in the past.

Out of all the businesses focused on banana sales, only Dang Zhengjun did not join. His opinion was at odds with He Yongxing's. His wife, Qi Rong, said that his thinking at the time had been that if there wasn't any money in cooperation, he wouldn't be able to raise his four kids. "He decided to go it alone, where he had a better chance of making money."

In March of last year, Dang placed some bananas in cold storage at the Jintudi Agricultural Market. Then on April 1, even before the group was established, Golden Banana rented two refrigerators at Jintudi, including the one that Dang was using. It paid monthly rent of about 1,300 yuan.

After April 1, when Dang's bananas had been in storage for five days, Golden Banana asked him for rent money, but Dang refused. He said in an interview, "I got to it first. Why should I have to give them any money? Besides, if I had to give anyone any money it would be Jintudi. I had 9,000 yuan on deposit with them."

Just a few days later, someone ripped off Dang's store sign in the middle of the night. Dang put up a new one, which got smeared with paint.

On the morning of April 14, with the excuse that Dang had not paid rent on the refrigerator, Golden Banana prevented him from shipping bananas to two supermarkets. The police finally intervened and allowed the bananas to be shipped out.

Conflict continued throughout April. Dang's storehouse had its glass smashed once, and the intake hose to the refrigeration unit got pulled out. The police investigated and found that these two incidents were also Golden Banana's doing.

From then on, the two sides did not have any head-on conflict, but there was always friction: things like spraying chemicals to affect the quality of other nearby fruit, or splashing water to make things inconvenient for the other party.

On the evening of last October 15, Golden Banana members Sun Mingliang and Wu Jianguang entered Dang's storehouse and then overturned and trampled some of his bananas. The courts determined that this amounted to damages of 9,562 yuan.

Cut wires and arrests
When Bai Yongjun's wires were tampered with and the two sides clashed, three group members were taken away by the police, and two were arrested later.

The five Golden Banana members were charged with eight crimes: in addition to six disputes with Dang Zhengjun described above, the other two involved Bai Yongjun.

Bai had been a Golden Banana member but had withdrawn from the group.

"I didn't want to join at first," Bai's wife, Liu Aizhi, said. She said that she had a bad temper and was afraid that she wouldn't get along with anyone. Later, to let He Yongxing save face, Bai decided to join, although Liu continued working on her own.

In May of last year, Liu took a shipment of bananas from Hainan. The evening that He Yongxing found out, Liu's wires were cut. She believes that it was done on He's orders.

Wire-cutting is one of the crimes that He Yongxing and his associates are charged with. Zhou Xin'an, who was involved, told the court on November 4, "When we joined up, our individual wires were no longer necessary, so we cut them. This was done with the consent of the market."

Liu said that He Yongxing had once wanted to use her shop's refrigeration unit, but she asked for payment. "He probably wasn't very happy about that."

In September of last year, Bai Yongjun withdrew from the group. One night in October, Bai went to string up wiring inside the market, but Golden Banana members prevented him, saying that doing so at night would disturb the community. They got into a physical confrontation and the police had to intervene. In the end, Bai was able to string up his wiring.

On October 23, Golden Banana members Zhou An'xin and Geng Sumin were detained by the Jiefang District PSB, and a case was registered on the 24th.

Subsequently, He Yongxing's attorney, Beijing Dadi Law Firm lawyer Wu Zhandou, said that making the arrests before the case was registered violated the Criminal Law. At the Jiaozuo PSB press conference on November 4, criminal investigation officer Wang Deyou responded to this allegation: "The police acted according to the evidence and followed legal procedures. The case was not conducted illegally."

On October 25 last year, Wu Jianguang, another Golden Banana member, was taken in.

That November 16, the Jiefang District PSB applied to the district procuratorate to formally arrest Zhou, Geng, and Wu on suspicion of trade coercion [Article 226].

The procuratorate did not approve Geng's arrest, so he was released. The two others were arrested.

Suspicions of a tortured confession
When 21-year-old Sun Mingliang was released, his hearing was poor, his mood distracted, and he had a constant headache.

After the incident, Sun Liangming, another Golden Banana member, was in the south purchasing bananas when his name was listed on the network as a wanted criminal.

On October 15 of last year, Sun went with Wu Jianguang to Dang Zhengjun's storehouse where they overturned his bananas. That December 26, Sun was arrested by local police in Guangdong, and on January 15 he was returned to Jiaozuo.

When the police applied to formally arrest Sun, the procuratorate turned them down, so on Feburary 2, Sun was released.

When he returned home, his father Sun Jinqian discovered that his son couldn't hear clearly. He seemed distracted and had a constant headache. That was just around the Spring Festival, so they were unable to go to the hospital right then. After the festival, Sun Mingliang was diagnosed with a punctured left eardrum.

Sun said that he had been beaten by police while in detention. His primary attacker had been Lian Bo, the political director of the criminal investigation unit's mobile team.

In court this November 4, Sun said that the police also verbally abused him, and at times he went an entire day without anything to eat. On several occasions, the police wrote up an interrogation report on their own and simply had him sign it.

This past March, the Jiefang District procuratorate began investigating Lian Bo, who later admitted to the beatings.

On May 23, the procuratorate began a prosecution of Lian Bo on the charge of extracting a confession through torture [Article 247].

A postponement for the confession by torture case
"I never thought things would change so quickly," Sun Mingliang's father said. When the case was just about to begin, he was notified it had been postponed.

On May 23, Sun Mingliang received a notice from the procuratorate informing him that he had the right to bring a legal representative to court on June 13.

"I thought that my son would find justice. I never thought things would change so quickly." Sun Jinqian said that in early June, they received another notice saying that the Lian Bo case had been postponed, but it did not give a specific date. That case has not yet gone to trial.

What Sun Jinqian did not know was that at the same time the Lian Bo case was being postponed, the procuratorate had received additional material from the police, who were seeking to arrest Sun Mingliang again.

A source within the procuratorate said that the agency believed that Sun did not meet the necessary conditions, so it never authorized an arrest.

On June 17, the Jiaozuo PSB transferred the jurisdiction of the Golden Banana members' cases to the Mengzhou PSB. Similarly, the procuratorate and judiciary were also transferred to Mengzhou.

On November 4, Wang Deyou said that during the course of the case, Golden Banana complained that a vice-director of the Jiefang District PSB had a conflict of interest, so the case had to be moved to an outside jurisdiction.

On June 25, one week after the case was submitted, the Mengzhou procuratorate authorized the arrest of Sun Liangming.

On June 26, Sun Jinqian heard that his son had been taken away by a few plainclothes cops while he was using the bathroom. That evening, when his son still hadn't returned home, Sun called the police, who pled ignorance of the matter.

When no further information was forthcoming after a week, Sun placed a missing person ad in the Jiaozuo Daily but learned nothing. After another week, the police sent over an arrest warrant.

The same day that Sun Mingliang was formally arrested, the police also arrested Golden Banana head He Yongxing.

He had been listed as a fugitive on the national network back on February 1, while he was in the south buying fruit. On July 9, he was taken in by local police in Hainan.

Accused of organized crime
The next indictment had another charge: organized crime. In September, the case was placed under the supervision of the provincial Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs.

Before He Yongxing was arrested, Zhou Xin'an and Wu Jianguang were charged by the procuratorate with sabotaging business operations [Article 276], and the case was set to go to court in mid-June. At the beginning of June, the families of the two men were notified without explanation that the prosecution withdrawn the case.

The cases were then transferred to the Mengzhou court. The next indictment had an additional charge: organized crime. Li Xiangdong, Jiaozuo PSB's assistant chief in charge of criminal investigation, said on November 4 that Dang Zhengjun and Bai Yongjun had visited the PSB to complain that Golden Banana had been bullying them. He had met them once, and then the bureau director had reviewed the case. At the end of last year, the Jiaozuo Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs had listed the case among the anti-crime cases under its supervision.

On August 5 of this year, the Mengzhou PSB noted in its prosecution submission that the individuals had gradually formed "a criminal organization, with He Yongxing as the head and Wu Jianguang and Sun Mingliang as active participants." It transferred He, Sun, Wu, Zhou Xin'an, and Li Jiangang (whose arrest was authorized by the Mengzhou procuratorate on June 25) to the Mengzhou procuratorate.

On September 2, the Henan Province Anti-Crime Coordination Leading Group put the case on the list of anti-crime cases under the supervision of the provincial Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs.

In the submission filed by the Mengzhou procuratorate on October 7, it accused the five Golden Banana members of being a "criminal syndicate" and accused He Yongxing of being the ringleader.

In court on November 4, lawyer Wu Zhandou suggested that according to Chinese law, in order to be considered organized crime, an organization must have "the protection of government workers," "significant economic force," and "criminal activity that seriously harms social or economic order," which He Yongxing's group did not. The prosecutors said that the five men had formed an organization and that their actions had harmed the interests of Jiaozuo's consumers.

In court, He Yongxing denied directing the members to engage in destructive activity. Records of previous police questionings showed other people saying things like, "He Yongxing told us to..."

In court on November 4, the individuals involved withdrew their confessions. Li Jiangang pled illiteracy; he said he couldn't read the confession and simply signed his name: "I was kneeling on the cement floor for hours and my kneecaps were all bruised." Zhou Xin'an raised his right hand before the judge and said that his fingers had been broken: "If I didn't do what they said, they'd beat me."

Sun Mingliang told the judge that after his second arrest, the police hadn't said anything at all, but simply gave him a written record to sign.

The trial began in the morning and lasted after until 7 pm. The court has yet to issue a verdict.

"He Laosan," the key figure
The police said that He Yongxing may have done good things, but helping people and breaking the law are two different things.

Upon learning that He Yongxing and his associates had been accused of organized crime, Fruit Market manager Zhu Aiguo said that he and other businessmen were shocked.

Zhu said that he was unclear about the corresponding punishment for organized crime, but he knew that "the consequences would be serious": "That label is far too harsh."

In the Fruit Market, practically everyone knew about "He Laosan," and most people called him "Third Brother."

In the winter of 1987, He Yongxing came from the countryside to work in Jiaozuo. Starting as a small street-side vendor, he built up a fairly well-regarded business in the city that conducted a good deal of trade.

A number of people in the city had received assistance from He Yongxing. Huang Wenhai, from Xiaoxian, Anhui Province, said that when he had just arrived in Jiaozuo in 1997 to sell fruit, his father had no money to see a doctor. When He Yongxing learned about this, he sent over 500 yuan.

Shu Huaiwu, from Xinyang, Henan Province, said that in 2001, he and his wife came to Jiaozuo to sell fruit, and they often sourced from He Yongxing. When He heart that their two children needed to go to school, he supplied them with fruit on credit and collected payment once they had sold it. When they partnered up in 2003, Shu had no money, so He covered for them both. On a purchasing trip to Hainan, Shu got into a car accident that affected his speech and left his limbs atrophied. When they returned to Jiaozuo, He kept him in the partnership, and when he saw TV advertisement for a medicine that could cure Shu's condition, he immediately bought it.

Liu Aizhi, a victim in the He Yongxing case, said, "True, Laosan used to be a good guy, but it's not the same now that he's got money. Especially after everyone joined together last year."

"As for whether it's organized crime, that's hard to say," said Dang Zhengjun. He said that He Laosan had helped people in the past, but he had not had many personal dealings with him.

On November 4, Wang Deyou said that He Yongxing may have done good things in the past, but finding pleasure in helping others is an entirely different matter from breaking the law.

The mutual assistance group continues
He Yongxing said that in addition to economic considerations, the group was set up for another goal: to assist businesses that lacked manpower.

The He Yongxing-led Golden Banana Mutual Assistance Group was known to the outside world as the Golden Banana Group (金香蕉集团), but neither name had been registered with the authorities.

In court on November 4, He Yongxing said that he followed the example of other areas when he set up the group. He said that individual business operations did not have the capacity to source bananas from growers; they had to rely on shipments from local middlemen, a costly method that did not guarantee quality. Once the group was established, it could send out dedicated buyers. And since the banana wholesalers in the market were all well known to each other, "there was another motivation for setting up the group: helping families who lacked manpower."

Three of the twenty-one families that joined up when the group was first established had a serious labor shortage, and in two of them, the man of the house had passed away. The group had no share threshold for participation: "Contribute whatever you are able."

Forty-three-year-old Li Jingchun injured his skull in a car accident in 1996, and to this day cannot do heavy labor. When he joined the group, he became responsible for janitorial work, and his wife worked in sales.

Each person was typically given a salary of 1,000 yuan a month, but "we didn't have the time to discuss details about profit-sharing, because at the end of last year this thing happened, and it has dragged on until now," said Wu Mingfu, a Golden Banana member.

The prosecutors say that He Yongxing and his associates monopolized the Jiaozuo banana wholesale market and controlled banana prices to obtain high profits.

In the course of the case, the police questioned Yin Xiaojun, a vendor who sourced from Jiaozuo. Yin said, "I get most of my supply from the Golden Banana Group, but I've never been hassled or obstructed when I've gone to Dang Zhengjun." He said that his main reason for buying from Golden Banana is that they're well stocked. "Sure, if they ask a high price from me, I turn around and sell for a high price."

The "Golden Banana Group" sign is still hanging up at the Fruit Market, and the Mutual Aid Group is still in existence and doing business.

At the press conference in Jiaozuo on November 4, in answer to a question about "the aspects of organized crime shared by Golden Banana," Jiaozuo PSB assistant chief Li Xiangdong said that the police would not make any further explanations before the court issued its decision.