Amsterdam organised crime trial begins Monday

The trail against Adil "Kinker" A. (26) and Anouar "Popeye" B. (34), believed to be two of the shooters in the Staatsliedenbuurt executions, begins today in the Amsterdam court, RTV Noord Holland reports. Another suspect, Hamza B., was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Morocco in December for his role in the executions.

The Staatsliedenbuurt executions on December 29th, 2012 is seen as one of the most violent episodes in the Amsterdam gang war. Bullets were flying through the neighborhood, ending up in trees, cars and even a nursery on a houseboat. The fleeing shooters even fired at two motorcycle cops with their Kalashnikovs. Yousseff Lkhorf (28) and Said el Yazidi (21) died in the shootout.

The main target of the attack was likely the criminal Benaouf A. He managed to escape the attack with his life by jumping into the water between the houseboats and then blending in with the public. A. was sentenced to 10 years in prison last year for his involvement in the execution of Najeb Bouhboub in Antwerp. The attack in Staatsliedenbuurt is believed to have been revenge for Bouhbouh's murder.

The immediate cause for the killings in Staatsliedenbuurt seems to be the theft of 200 kilograms of cocaine in the port of Antwerp, but this appears to have devolved into a gang war of personal grudges and revenge killings between rival gangs. There have been more than 10 deaths in the gang war.