Suspect's family believes De Vries shooting was ordered by Taghi murder gang
Family members of Delano G., a 21-year-old man from Rotterdam suspected of shooting crime reporter Peter R. de Vries multiple times at close range in Amsterdam last week, believe that the attack on De Vries was ordered by one of the "murder gangs" that allegedly work for Ridouan Taghi, they said to De Telegraaf. G. was promised 150 thousand euros for killing the crime reporter, the newspaper wrote based on "various sources".
G.'s cousin Jaouad W. is suspected of heading one such murder gang, according to the newspaper. He is currently serving 13 years in prison for preparing for assassinations.
G.'s mother and stepfather were stunned by G.'s arrest in the attack on De Vries, but other family members were not surprised, the two relatives said to De Telegraaf. According to the newspaper, they asked to remain anonymous but their identity and relation to G. was verified. The young man had a long juvenile criminal record.
"Nobody knows why it went wrong. But the parents find it terrible. Committing such a murder is not an ordinary crime," one relative said. "Delano loves to dance and rap and is terribly sensitive to status and attention. It is also cocky behavior. He had a lot of contact with bad young people from Nieuwegein, Vianen and Tiel. They are a breeding gang for big gangsters. These guys are once asked to put or take away a bag of money or drugs in a shed, and then they are slowly sucked in."
According to the relatives, G.'s family is really divided into two groups. "Some have gone far: own casinos, are brokers or own real estate. Another part has gone astray. Delano is not the worst. You have his cousin Jaouad or Joey W., who is incarcerated as a gang member of the 26Koper gang of Taghi. And there are two more guys who are very dangerous. One of them practices shooting in the woods. He is being groomed as a hit man. The guys who didn't make it resent the relatives who did. It is an inferiority complex. Or jealousy. They have an enormous urge to assert themselves," the second family member said.
De Vries survived the attack, despite being shot in the head. He is in critical condition in hospital.