crime
Heavy penalties for Dutch “Mocro Mafia”
Masked and armed Dutch police officers guard a transport carrying some of the suspects as they arrive in front of the high-security court building in Amsterdam. photo
© Peter Dejong/AP/dpa
It was the largest murder trial in the Netherlands: Judges impose heavy sentences on Ridouan Taghi’s drug gang. The terror was also directed against the judiciary and reporter Peter R. de Vries.
Helicopters and drones circle over the court in the west of Amsterdam. Special police units are on every street corner, dressed in black, with automatic weapons at the ready. There are ghostly scenes like in a movie. The Dutch capital’s high-security prison is located in the austere office building.
And there the judges announced the sentences against one of the most notorious drug gangs in the country: three life sentences, and gang leader Ridouan Taghi (46) also received the maximum sentence for several contract killings. He is also said to be responsible for the murder of prominent crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in 2021. Even if the murder is the subject of a different trial – it overshadowed the trial.
The trial against the drug gang known as the “Mocro Mafia” lasted around six years. 17 men were charged with several murders, attempted murders and attacks from 2015 to 2017. Most of them were acts of revenge against former accomplices.
The court imposed heavy sentences, three life sentences for the main masterminds and prison terms of up to 29 years for the remaining 14. However, the sentences were lower than the prosecution had demanded. She had applied for life imprisonment a total of six times. The defendants remained mostly silent during the trial. Most of them will probably appeal.
Hub of drug smuggling
The unexpectedly strict security precautions are now a bitter necessity. Because this trial in particular has shown how mercilessly organized crime can strike. It triggered an unprecedented wave of violence against the rule of law.
For years, the Taghi gang was a leader in the international cocaine trade. The Netherlands is Europe’s hub for drug smuggling. Around 2015, the country was shaken up by reckonings and assassination attempts in the wake of a bloody gang war. Until 2017, one of Taghi’s former accomplices revealed: Nabil B. became a key witness and received a reduced sentence. He has now been sentenced to ten years in prison.
The prosecution also cited a wealth of chat reports. The gang had communicated using encrypted messages. But in the end, investigators managed to crack the code. And the cell phone messages, according to the judges, illustrated the merciless terror.
Taghi is described as the undisputed leader of a “professional murder organization.” “This is about unscrupulous and corrosive violence in which a human life is worthless,” said the judges. “Society must be maximally protected from him.” Taghi himself was not in court. He had said during the trial: “The whole process is a waste of time and money. The verdict has already been determined.”
The verdict in the murder of a journalist is still pending
The gang’s terror was ultimately also directed against the judiciary. Lawyers, judges and even journalists were targeted. Because the key witness’s statement had fatal consequences. His brother was murdered, as was his lawyer and finally, in 2021, the prominent crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, confidant of the key witness. The government spoke of an “attack on the rule of law.” The murder on the street in Amsterdam also caused international outrage.
This trial was not about these murders; the verdict on the murder of the reporter de Vries is not due to be made until June. But according to many, they show how big the drug terror is in the Netherlands. Lawyers and reporters are now under personal protection, and at times even Crown Princess Amalia was threatened. Processes are strictly secured in a way that is otherwise only known from mafia trials in Italy. Trial observers and lawyers agree: the trial has changed the Netherlands forever.