18 people to up to 20-year prison terms for their involvement in organized crimes in China's Guizhou province. Twelve of the arrested were members of the Yushan Gang, who were convicted of organizing racketeering, illegal mining, operating gambling dens, intentional injuring, rape and other offenses. January 4 – A total of 29 people were killed in 13 separate drug-related attacks over a 24-hour span in Chihuahua, including two state police officers who were shot by six attackers. Among the slain were a female activist who led protests against alleged rights abuses by police and military deployed to fight organized crime. January 4 – Seven Tijuana policemen were detained for alleged ties to organized crime. The arrests stemmed from the interrogation of Luis Gilberto "El Gil" Sanchez Guerrero, an ex-officer arrested December 29, 2008, who allegedly led more than 10 kidnap and murder crews for Tijuana Cartel lieutenant Teodoro García Simental. January 5 – Boris "Bobi" Tsankov, a Bulgarian radio presenter and crime writer who wrote about local mafia affairs in a book published in November, was shot to death outside a fast food restaurant. Top Bulgaria crime bosses Krasimir Marinov and Stefan Bonev were arrested later that day. January 5 – Andrew Merola, the reputed leader of a North New Jersey faction of the Gambino crime family, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Merola admitted he headed an organization involved in gambling, loan-sharking, scams and labor racketeering during a Newark hearing. He faced up to 20 years in prison. January 5 – Italian police arrest 14 alleged members of Camorra clans fighting to seize control of drug trafficking and extortion rackets in some of Naples's northern suburbs. January 6 – Piero Grasso, Italy's top anti-mafia prosecutor, announces a new "Mafia campaign" in response to the bombing of a Reggio Calabria courthouse by 'Ndrangheta on January 3. Grasso called for the strengthening of national investigation procedures to arrest criminals and seize their assets. January 6 – Convicted racketeer Mark Strodtman is sentenced to 31 years in prison in Greeley, Colorado, for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme. Strodtman was the first man convicted in Weld County under the state's organized crime statute. January 6 – Bing Yi Chen, the lieutenant of a Chinese crime organization, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for helping arrange the July 1994 murder of two Toronto men as a favor for a Hong Kong drug