Crime boss assassination thwarted by gun jam

Gwenette M., a major criminal from Amsterdam, escaped death Friday. An unknown man pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger several times, in Amsterdam-Zuid. The gun failed.M. 's attorney, Nico Meijering, confirmed the incident. The 39-year-old M. is a key figure in a major investigation into a series of relatively recent assassinations in the Amsterdam criminal environment. One of which is a double murder, with a lot of gun violence, in the Staatsliedenbuurt, a year ago.

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M. met an acquaintance early Friday evening around 19:00 in a store along the Amstelveenseweg. When the pair went for a stroll around the neighborhood, a man suddenly showed up, pointing a gun to M.'s head. The weapon failed, making only clicking sounds. During the struggle that followed M. was hit on the head with the weapon, sustaining slight injuries. The attacker fled. M. filed a police report at a nearby police station. He was taken to the main station for questioning the same night, reported Het Parool. It is not clear whether M. recognized the shooter.

The series of assassinations started in October last year with the murder, in front of a hotel in  Antwerp, of Najeb Bouhbouh, a good friend of M., according to reports. The double murder of two young Moroccans in the Staatsliedenbuurt was reportedly a retaliation from M. and his band.

Shortly after the assassination of Bouhbouh, Gwenette M. and three others were arrested on "de Dam." They were in the possession of two firearms and a wig. M. was wearing a bulletproof vest. The public prosecution suspects the group was planning an assassination attempt on Benaouf M., the presumed brain behind the murder of Bouhbouh. At that time M. was on probation from an earlier case, which centered around drug trafficking and money laundering. Since August M. has been out again, also probational.