BEIJING

 China executed five members of a “mafia-style gang” Monday, state media reported, including a tycoon believed to be linked to former security chief Zhou Yongkang.

Liu Han, the former chairman of the Hanlong Group, was executed along with four others in a case described as “extremely vile and harmful" by the Supreme People's Court, the Xinhua news agency said.

The gang had been linked to eight deaths, arms dealing, racketeering, gambling and harboring criminals, the court said.

Although not linked in official reports, the South China Morning Post reported that Liu, 48, had ties to Zhou's son, Zhou Bin.

In December, the elder Zhou, the retired head of China’s security ministry and a former Politburo member, was stripped of his Communist Party membership. He faces prosecution on corruption charges ranging from bribe-taking to leaking party and state secrets and is the most senior former official to be investigated under President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive.

Sources told the Post that Zhou, 72, had asked Liu to look after his son.

The Hanlong Group is the largest private enterprise in southwest Sichuan province, the region that formed Zhou’s power base. The company’s interests include mining, telecommunications and chemicals.

According to Xinhua, Liu’s gang was assisted by government officials and “illegally monopolized the gaming business in Guanghan City in Sichuan province, tyrannized local people and seriously harmed economic and social order.”

The report said the Xianning Intermediate People's Court executed Liu, his brother Liu Wei, Tang Xianbing, Zhang Donghua and Tian Xianwei Monday morning.

They were convicted in May last year of organizing, leading or participating in a gang and murder. A court in Hubei province upheld the death sentences in August.