Klaas Bruinsma (drug lord)

Klaas Bruinsma (6 October 1953 – 27 June 1991) was a major Dutch drug lord. He was shot dead on 27 June 1991 by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland. He was known as "De Lange" ("The Tall One") and also as "De Dominee" ("The Reverend") because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others.

Life

Bruinsma and his gang often hung out at the Amsterdam luxury brothel Yab Yum. In 1990 Bruinsma and his associate Roy Adkins fought in the brothel after one of their operations had gone sour; shots were fired but nobody was injured and nobody talked to the police. Adkins was assassinated later that year.^[1] A newspaper article in 2006 reported that true ownership of the brothel had long been in the hands of mafia figures, beginning with Klaas Bruinsma, who called it "the club house". After Bruinsma's death in 1991, his associates Sam Klepper and John Mieremet and the Dutch Hells Angels took over control of the club.^[2]

On the night of 27 June 1991 Bruinsma became involved in a verbal argument with Martin Hoogland, an ex-police officer who was employed by the mafia at that time. Bruinsma was shot to death by Hoogland in front of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel at 4 a.m. that morning.^[3] Hoogland was murdered in 2004 in prison.^[4]

On October 2, 2003, a former bodyguard of Bruinsma, Charlie da Silva, declared in the television show of Peter R. de Vries, that Mabel Wisse Smit had been a very close friend of Bruinsma's, and had been a regular guest on his yacht during the night. Wisse Smit, who at that point was engaged to Prince Friso, had told prime-minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Queen Beatrix that she had only been slightly acquainted with Bruinsma. Because of this incident, the Dutch government decided not to request permission of parliament for the marriage, causing Prince Friso to lose his claim to the Dutch throne after his marriage to Wisse Smit.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

References

1. ↑ Dutch killing reopens files on traffickers. The Independent, 11 May 1992.
2. ↑ Yab Yum: exclusief én crimineel at the Wayback Machine (archived May 5, 2006), BN DeStem, 3 May 2006; 'Ook sekshuis Yab Yum werd afgeperst'. Eindhovens Dagblad, 3 May 2006. (Dutch)
3. ↑ (Dutch)"Alles is te herleiden tot Klaas Bruinsma"
4. ↑ (Dutch)"Martin Hoogland"
5. ↑ "Prinselijk paar loog over relatie Mabel". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). PCM Uitgevers. 2003-10-11. Retrieved 2007-08-31. 
6. ↑ Gregory Crouch (2003-10-12). "Revelations About Dutch Prince's Fiancée Rattle Royal Family". Netherlands: Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2014-06-16. 
7. ↑ "BBC reports about "Mabelgate"". BBC News. 2003-10-10. Retrieved 2014-06-16. 
8. ↑ "BBC reports about the wedding". BBC News. 2004-04-24. Retrieved 2014-06-16. 
9. ↑ "Letter by Friso to prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, 9 Oktober 2003". Regering.nl. Retrieved 2014-06-16.