Convict arrested for involvement in gangland assassinations

Dino S. was arrested in his cell on Monday morning for involvement in the assassinations of Willem Endstra in May 2004 and John Mierement in November 2005, the police said on Monday. S. is already serving a life sentence for ordering the assassinations of Kees Houtman and Thomas van der Bijl, Nu.nl reports.

The police also announced that criminal Donald G. was arrested in his villa in Spain for involvement in Endstra's murder. He is also charged with participating in a criminal organization. What information led to these arrests, was not revealed. The Dutch authorities long believed that Dino S., Willem Holleeder and Stanley Hills formed a criminal organization together that ordered assassinations. 

S. was already convicted for the murders of Houtman and Van der Bijl, cases for which Holleeder is currently on trial. Holleeder is also being tried for involvement in Endstra an Mieremet's murders. Dino S. is also charged with extorting Endstra, something Holleeder was already convicted for.

Donald G. was previously named a the person who ordered Endstra's assassination by Natik Abassov, the believed gunman in the murder. Abassov was never able to give more details about G.'s alleged involvement in Endstra's death, because he died in his cell from a brain hemorrhage in 2012, a few months after his arrest in 2011. 

It does not seem that the Prosecutor suspects G. of ordering Endstra's assassination, according to the newspaper. The Public Prosecutor recently stated that G. is considered an intermediary between the leaders of the criminal organization and the executors of the assassinations. There are photos in the file on Endstra's murder showing G. and Dino S. meeting. G. was also in contact with a number of persons who are suspected of involvement in Endstra's killing. The Prosecutor believes that these suspects belonged to one of the murder commandos used by Holleeder and Dino S.'s group.

The lawyers representing criminal king pin Willem Holleeder said in a short reaction that they will consider what consequences these arrests will have on the case against Holleeder. 

According to Dino S.'s lawyer, Nico Meijering, the new suspicions on which S. was arrested are based on old statements made by the late Hidir Korkmaz and an anonymous witness referred to as Q5. "Old wine in new bags", Meijering called it. "It should not justify the new arrest."