A recent NY Times article mentions the possibility of a new mafia movie based on the story of Chongqing’s famed crime-fighter Wang Lijun. Writer Huang Jiren met with Wang this past summer to discuss the penning of a series of crime novels that would eventually be adapted to film. Wang established himself a hero after leading a successful campaign against Chongqing’s notorious criminal culture in 2009, resulting in over 1,000 arrests and exposing corruption within the police force.
Chongqing’s ordinary cops can hardly wait. Mr. Wang and Mr. Bo [Xilai, Chongqing’s Communist Party secretary] are local heroes for their aggressive action in smashing the gangs that ran the city for years, with 30 billion renminbi, or $4.7 billion, in annual loan-sharking businesses, as well as gambling, prostitution and other activities extending deep into daily life, officials said.
“We all know it’s going to be excellent,” said Huang Shu, a Chongqing police officer, of the planned movie.
[…]More than three decades of rapid economic growth in a deeply networked society within a politically opaque state have produced flourishing mafias, said Kerry Brown, head of the Asia Program at Chatham House, a research organization in London.
[…]The writers were given access to any suspect they wanted, and to any file, many stamped “Top Secret.” The book was to be written with an eye to posterity, and only objectivity and truth could ensure that, Mr. Wang said.
For more on Wang Lijun, see this 2009 photo and explanation of Wang’s work to uncover internal corruption, via CDT.
