Murder allegations involving some of the Netherlands’ most notorious underworld figures were heard in a heavily-fortified courtroom in Amsterdam on Tuesday, where suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder is on trial for blackmail.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Holleeder accused underworld figures Sam Klepper and John Mieremet of the attempted murder in 1996 of Heineken kidnapper Cor van Hout.
The Volkskrant reports that Holleerder said the two men admitted the attempted murder but were never arrested. Holleeder and Van Hout both served time for the Heineken kidnapping.
Mieremet was arrested for a second attempt on Van Hout’s life in 2000 but was released. Two months before his arrest, Klepper was murdered. Van Hout was shot dead in 2003 while Mieremet was killed in 2005.
Holleerder and a number of co-defendants are in court on four charges of blackmail. The first case being heard concerns Rolf Friedländer whose son was the subject of a murder plot. Holleerder said on Monday he was not involved in the blackmailing of the property tycoon, but only tried to warn him of the danger to his son, the Volkskrant reports.
Friedländer also denies he was being blackmailed. Two of the alleged victims have been murdered.