Two prime members of an organized crime gang in central China's Hubei Province were executed Wednesday after the Supreme People's Court (SPC) approved their death sentences on Dec. 23 last year.

Liu Lieyong was sentenced to death for the crimes of organizing and leading an organized criminal gang, murder, blackmail, illegal possession of arms and gambling, said a statement from the SPC.

Chen Xiaohui was convicted of participating in an organized criminal gang, murder, intentional injury, inciting disorder and illegal possession of arms.

Both were also permanently deprived of their political rights while Liu was fined 100,000 yuan (14,493 U.S. dollars).

The statement did not reveal how the men were executed.

Another 19 people convicted in the case received jail terms from one year with two-year reprieve to suspended death sentences, said the statement.

The crime gang, founded by Liu in the city of Xiantao in Hubei in 2001, had opened casinos, which were illegal in China, illegally forced the transfer of shares in local bus companies and manipulated local cement and food markets.

Liu instructed gang members, including Chen, to murder one person. Chen was also held responsible for another death and nine injuries, the statement said.

The statement did not give details about their victims. According to a report in the Wuhan Morning Post in February 2008, one of the victims was Hu Dongfeng, head of a rival gang in Xiantao. Six of Liu's gang members ambushed him and shot him dead.

Their deeds had seriously damaged public security and economic life, the SPC statement said.

Liu and Chen were sentenced to death by the Shiyan Municipal Intermediate People's Court in February 2008 and the Hubei Provincial High People's Court upheld the sentences at the second trial in March 2009.

China launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on gang crimes in February 2006. Police have investigated over 1,200 gang crime cases and arrested more than 8,900 people from February 2006 to September 2009, said the Ministry of Public Security.