Taghi was born in Tetouan, northern Morocco, in 1977 and his family moved to the Netherlands in 1980. He first came into conflict with the law as a teenager over theft and illegal possession of weapons and began trafficking drugs. He later went into hiding and only became a police target again in 2013 – initially in Spain. He was arrested in Dubai in 2019.
A year-long trial followed, in which the verdicts against Taghi and 17 other defendants were handed down on Tuesday in a court near Amsterdam, known as the “bunker” due to the massive security measures there. Taghi was sentenced to life in prison, his co-defendants were sentenced to prison terms of between nine months and 29 years and also life imprisonment for three defendants.
Process in a state of emergency
Prosecutors called Taghi and his co-defendants a “well-oiled killing machine.” The trial took place under enormous security precautions; Masked police forces with automatic weapons were positioned around the “bunker” and helicopters and drones were positioned above the courthouse. Taghi is considered extremely dangerous; Because of the murders or contract killings he was accused of, he was called the “Angel of Death” by the international press.
APA/AFP/Anp/Robin Utrecht helicopter over the bunker
“He spared no one”
“We convicted all 17 defendants. Ridouan Taghi will receive life imprisonment,” said the judge, whose identity was not revealed for security reasons, at the conclusion of proceedings on Tuesday. Taghi was the “undisputed leader” of a “murderous organization”. “He decided who was killed – and he spared no one.” Taghi himself was not in the courtroom when the announcement was made. The judge pronounced the verdict behind a privacy screen so as not to be recognized.
Taghi was considered the head of one of the largest cocaine trafficking networks in Europe. Until his arrest in Dubai in 2019, he was the most wanted criminal in the Netherlands. Although he was imprisoned in a maximum security prison, it is said that he continued to run his cartel, known as the Mocro Mafia due to the Moroccan origins of many of its members, even after his arrest. Among other things, he was held responsible for three murders committed during the trial.
Lawyer and brother of main witness are shot dead
However, these three murders were not tried in court, but rather six cases of murder, four attempted murders and other murder orders between 2015 and 2017. The gang's victims were mainly suspected of being police informers. The trial against Taghi and his followers was made possible because a gang member turned himself in to police and acted as the prosecution's main witness.
picturedesk.com/AFP/Michel Van Bergen Crime scene investigations: In 2019, the key witness, B.'s lawyer, was murdered in the Buitenveldert district of Amsterdam
After key witness Nabil B. contacted the police, a new wave of violence shook the Netherlands: his brother was killed in 2018 and his lawyer Derk Wiersum was shot in front of his home in 2019. The cartel Taghi is also said to have ordered the murder of well-known crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in 2021. De Vries was a confidant of key witness B., and his street murder caused horror in the Netherlands and across Europe. B. was sentenced to ten years in prison.
“Drug trafficking state” and comparisons with mafia murders
At the time there was talk of a “narcostate” (drug state), a “killing machine” and an “attack on the rule of law”. The press made comparisons with Italy in the early 1990s, when the mafia local attacked the Italian investigative judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino killed in attacks.
The trial of Taghi and the Mocro Mafia lasted almost six years. The murders and attempted murders now negotiated occurred between 2015 and 2017.
Prominent figure in the international drug trade
The defendants remained silent during the trial. Most of them will probably appeal. For years, Taghi's cartel was a leader in the international cocaine trade, with the Netherlands considered the European center of drug smuggling.
At trial, the decrypted chat messages primarily incriminated the defendants. Taghi is said to have called the proceedings a “waste of time and money” as the verdict had already been determined. The verdict in the trial for the murder of journalist de Vries is expected in June.