Slain drugs gangster buried in Amsterdam

4 June 2004

AMSTERDAM — Drugs gangster Gijs van Dam Jr. was buried at the Vredenhof cemetery in Amsterdam on Friday, a week after he was shot and killed in front of his home in the beachside town of Zandvoort.

Van Dam, 37, was shot in the head on 28 May while he sat in a car in the driveway of his home on the Ir. G. Friedhoffplein and died soon after at the VU hospital in Amsterdam. The man’s five-year-old son was sitting next to him at the time of the shooting.

The two gunmen escaped the scene by car and police found the burning vehicle abandoned not far from the scene of the shooting. The suspects reportedly transferred to a second car and a helicopter called in to assist the search failed to track the shooters down.

Van Dam Jr. is the son of well known Amsterdam criminal Gijs van Dam Sr., who was deeply involved in the import of cannabis in the 1970s and 80s. Van Dam Sr. was sentenced to 20 years jail in France at the start of the 1980s but was released after serving just a couple of years.

Van Dam Jr. had previously survived an attempt on his life in December 2002 when he was shot by two men on a motorbike in front of his former home in Amsterdam-Buitenveldert. He had been in a wheelchair ever since.

He was also kidnapped at a young age in October 1985 and the kidnappers demanded NLG 8 million in cash as ransom. Van Dam Jr. was eventually freed by police.

The murder of Van Dam Jr. came just a week and a half after the 17 May assassination in Amsterdam of real estate magnate Willem Endstra. The controversial businessman was suspected of being the “banker of the underworld”.

There have been a series of gangland slayings in Amsterdam and surrounds in recent years. Dutch police have in the past expressed concern that bystanders might be injured, but admitted there was little that could be done to stop the murders.

The final resting place of Van Dam Jr. is close to the grave of criminal Cor van Hout, who was shot and killed in Amstelveen in January 2003. Van Hout is best known for his role in the kidnapping of beer magnate Freddie Heineken in 1983.

Subject: Dutch news