One of the Netherlands' most notorious criminals has been sentenced to life imprisonment again.
The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam on Friday imposed the maximum sentence on the former kidnapper of Heineken brewer, Willem Holleeder (64).
In 2019 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for five contract killings and one case of manslaughter from 2003 to 2006.
The Amsterdamer had had competitors from the underworld murdered and had been heavily implicated by witnesses, especially by his two sisters Astrid and Sonja.
They had secretly recorded conversations with him for years and handed the tapes over to the public prosecutor's office.
Astrid Holleeder had written international bestsellers about it.
The defense attorneys had pleaded for acquittal and pointed out that there was no direct evidence.
But for the judges, the evidence was clear.
Holleeder "decided unconscientiously about life and death" out of greed for money and power.
A giant in organized crime
For more than 35 years, Holleeder was the dominant figure in organized crime.
In 1983 he had kidnapped the beer magnate Freddy Heineken, and Hollywood films had even been made about it.
After serving his sentence for the Heineken kidnapping, he built an empire with part of the ransom: blackmail, prostitution, gambling.
Holleeder had also previously been convicted of threatening crime reporter Peter R. de Vries.
This was probably shot last year on behalf of a drug gang.
The man, who is also called "the nose" because of his large olfactory organ, can now appeal to the highest court and apply for an appeal.
A life sentence lasts at least 25 years in the Netherlands.