SHANGHAI: A funeral agency boss used intimidation and violence to scare off rival businesses in order to dominate the market in this eastern metropolis, a court heard yesterday.

Zhou Wancheng, 46, employed 18 henchmen to help monopolize the local industry for two years, during which he made huge profits selling cinerary caskets and arranging post-service dinners, prosecutor Liu Yan told Shanghai Zhabei District People's Court.

He ordered his gang to get the details of families who had suffered recent bereavements from local hospital emergency units and mortuaries, and either bully or beat his competitors into submission, said the prosecutor.