REAL ESTATE TRADER ENDSTRA KILLED

Today around noon the real estate trader Willem Endstra was killed at the moment he was leaving his office in the south of Amsterdam. For around two years Endstra was in the news because a criminal stated that he was working as a kind of a banker for the underworld. Yesterday he broke the silence by appearing in a talk show on Dutch television. It was his first and his last appearance.

This week the Dutch Senate is discussing the possibility to use criminal informers, infiltrators and witnesses during criminal investigations and trials. After the scanal 20 years ago were huge quantities of soft- and hard durgs were smuggled into Holland with the knowledge of the authorities, it was diecided to ban the use of criminal witnesses and infiltrators. Now a public prosecutor specialised in organised crime and also threatened to be killed several times, pleas for more possibilities to make deals with criminals. After the murder of Endstra it seems that both the dutch Senate and the Dutch Minister of Justice does not have a lot of choise.

It was quite a hectic week for Endstra since the Amsterdam Court tried to persecute the real estate businessman. Quite successfully he went in appeal. He was happy that after 14 years of juridical research nobody could proof that Endstra was launder money for criminals. In the live talk show he again denied the accusation.

Endstra has been in the news as money launderer for around 15 years now. In the early nineties his name was mentioned after a XTC gang was rounded up by the Amsterdam police. In 1995 his name turned up again after a international hash gang was arrested.

Over the last years a large number of criminals were assassinated in and around Amsterdam. The most famous ones are the killing of Klaas Bruinsma in front of the Hilton Hotel and liquidation of Cor van Hout. The latter was one of the kidnappers of Freddy Heineken. He only died after three attempts. From the early ninties of the last century till now around 20 liquidations or attemps were carried out.

It seems all the assassinations are part of a flaming row over a cocaine rip deal. Another possibility is a dispute over a real estate deal. Also former business partners of Willem Endstra have been killed or were arrested. He was quite afraid to be assassinated.

Endstra was one of the biggest real estate dealers of The Netherlands. His fortune is estimated at more than 200 million euros. In the top 500 of the Dutch business magazine Quote he was listed on number 93. Quote magazine was one of the publishers were Endstra was taking legal action against. He did not want the magazine to publish a picture of him together with one of the other kidnappers of Freddy Heineken, Willem H.. When Quote published the photo anyway, their window were riddled with bullets. It is said that Willem H. is the next on the hit list.

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May 17, 2004