BEIJING, Sept. 12 -- A senior security official vowed Friday to eradicate criminal organizations with firm measures.

Criminal organizations will be targeted when they are small and given no room to regroup and re-emerge, Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said at a meeting here.

The battle against organized crime needs coordination between many departments and agencies, Meng said, urging all of them to work together under the leadership of the central authorities.

Officials who offer protection for criminal organizations will be targeted and hunted down mercilessly, he said.

A former mining tycoon Liu Han was sentenced to death earlier this year for murdering and organizing and leading mafia-style gang.