CHANGSHA - A court in Central China's Hunan province sentenced two leaders of a local organized crime group to death with two year reprieve on Tuesday, according to local authorities.

The Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentences to Liu Wanliang and Yang Zhengliang for their crimes, which included commandeering a private owned manganese mine, organizing and leading a criminal gang, murder, racketeering, sheltering criminals and pandering.

The court also sentenced four of the gang's members to life imprisonment and 23 other gang members to jail terms from two to 20 years.

According to the court, Liu and his gang reaped significant profits from a privately-owned mine that they seized in 2006. Over the following year, Liu illegally purchased two firearms, bringing his personal collection to eight weapons, the court said. Liu used his firearms to kill one person and injure five others, according to the court.

Chinese law prohibits the private ownership of guns.

The court recognized Liu's gang as being "mafia-like" for its centralized structure and use of force and verbal threats.