The Straits Times believes that the kidney came from former triad leader Tan Chor Jin, who gunned down a nightclub owner in 2006. The gangster dubbed the 'One-Eyed Dragon' was hanged at Changi Prison yesterday morning.

His mistress confirmed that his organs were donated.

A check with hospitals found that only one other patient received a kidney from a dead donor yesterday, in an operation done at the Singapore General Hospital.

A spokesman for Mr Tang's family said his transplant was done in the morning and he was recuperating.

'He's up and conscious and he is in high spirits, even asking for magazines and books to read,' said the spokesman.

The 56-year-old had been unsuccessful in getting a kidney transplant overseas because of his other illnesses. He was caught trying to buy a kidney for transplant from an Indonesian here in June last year.

He was jailed for a day and fined $17,000 for the offence.

The debate that followed the case has prompted moves to change the law to allow people who donate their kidneys to get monetary compensation from the recipient or a voluntary organisation.

There are about 520 patients waiting for a kidney and every year 80 transplants are carried out.

Mr Tang, who suffers several medical problems including diabetes, asthma and heart problems, had earlier been taken off the waiting list for a kidney from a dead donor.

Last October, he underwent a successful triple heart bypass and was deemed well enough for a kidney transplant.

Hospitals are not allowed to reveal details of transplants, but The Straits Times understands Mr Tang's new kidney came from the killer executed yesterday.

Dubbed 'One-Eyed Dragon' because he was blind in the right eye, Tan, 42, was convicted in May 2007 of firing six rounds from a Beretta pistol at Mr Lim Hock Soon, 40.

He was captured in Malaysia, extradited to Singapore and convicted of discharging a firearm, an offence that carries the mandatory death penalty.

He failed in asking the President for clemency, his last hope of avoiding the gallows.

Tan's mistress told The Straits Times that he had made it known that he wished to donate his organs after his death.

Tan and his Malaysian wife had no children. His mistress, also a Malaysian, bore him a son and a daughter.

Additional reporting by Selina Lum