The Marengo Trial
Ridouan Taghi

//Ridouan Taghi - Rise of a Drug Lord

Ridouan Taghi, known by aliases "De Dikke" and "Rico," grew up in the Bos en Lommer neighborhood of Amsterdam with roots in the Moroccan Rif region. By the mid-2010s, he had built what investigators described as one of the most sophisticated criminal organizations in European history. Taghi's network controlled wholesale cocaine distribution from Dutch ports, managed assassination squads, and maintained international connections stretching from Dubai to Colombia. His organization operated with military-like discipline, using encrypted phones - first EncroChat, then Sky ECC - to coordinate operations across borders.

Taghi became the subject of one of the largest manhunts in European history. For years, he evaded authorities while living in Dubai, continuing to direct operations remotely. In December 2019, he was arrested in a luxury apartment complex in Dubai following a tip-off, and was subsequently transferred to the EBI in Vught - the most secure prison facility in the Netherlands. Even from behind bars, evidence would later show, he continued to run his empire through an elaborate communication system involving family members and lawyers.

//The Crown Witness - Nabil B.

The Marengo case was built largely on the testimony of crown witness Nabil B., a former associate of Taghi who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in 2017. Nabil B.'s testimony broke open the case, providing investigators with detailed accounts of the organization's structure, its assassination orders, and its drug trafficking operations. His decision to cooperate was a rare and critical break in the wall of silence that typically protects organized crime networks.

The price Nabil B. paid for his cooperation was devastating. On March 29, 2018, his brother Reduan B. was shot dead in Amsterdam - a killing widely interpreted as retaliation for Nabil's decision to testify. The murder sent a chilling message to anyone considering cooperation with authorities. But worse was to come. On September 18, 2019, Derk Wiersum - Nabil B.'s lawyer - was shot dead in front of his home in Amsterdam's Buitenveldert neighborhood. The assassination of a lawyer serving the rule of law was unprecedented in the Netherlands and sent shockwaves through the legal profession and Dutch society at large.

//The Assassinations

The Marengo indictment centered on multiple assassinations and attempted murders ordered by Taghi's organization. The charges covered a series of targeted killings between 2015 and 2017, carried out by professional hit squads coordinated through encrypted communications. Victims were identified, tracked, and eliminated with methodical precision. In some cases, the wrong person was killed - mistaken identity proved no barrier to the organization's willingness to use lethal violence.

Taghi's right-hand man, Said Razzouki (alias "Skipi"), coordinated many of the assassinations and drug shipments. He was arrested in Colombia in February 2021 and extradited to the Netherlands. The trial revealed how assassination orders flowed from Taghi through his lieutenants to execution teams, with payments, surveillance reports, and post-operation debriefs all documented in encrypted messages. The organization maintained a network of hitmen, scouts, and safe house operators that functioned as a parallel economy of violence.

//Peter R. de Vries - The Journalist

On July 6, 2021, crime journalist Peter R. de Vries was shot in the head on a busy Amsterdam street after leaving a television studio. He died nine days later. De Vries, one of the Netherlands' most prominent and celebrated journalists, had been serving as a confidant and advisor to crown witness Nabil B. His murder was the third killing directly connected to the Marengo case - following those of Reduan B. and Derk Wiersum.

The assassination of Peter R. de Vries represented an escalation that transcended organized crime. It was perceived as an attack on press freedom, the justice system, and democratic society itself. The murder prompted a national outpouring of grief and led to urgent political demands for enhanced security measures around witnesses, lawyers, and journalists involved in organized crime cases. Evidence later connected the killing to Taghi's organization, with Polish gangster Krystian M. (alias "El Polaco") identified as the coordinator and Taghi's nephew Jaouad ("Bolle") suspected of ordering the hit.

//The Verdict - Life Sentences

The Marengo trial began in March 2020 and was held under extraordinary security conditions. The proceedings took place in the purpose-built Justitieel Complex Schiphol, with armed guards, bulletproof glass, and restricted access. Multiple defendants attempted to disrupt the trial, and Taghi's legal representation changed several times - most notably when his original lawyer Inez Weski was herself arrested on suspicion of passing messages to and from the organization.

On February 22, 2024, the verdict was delivered. Ridouan Taghi was sentenced to life imprisonment - a sentence rarely imposed in the Netherlands and one that carries no possibility of parole. Said Razzouki also received a life sentence. Several other co-defendants received lengthy prison terms. The court found that Taghi had led a criminal organization responsible for multiple murders and attempted murders, large-scale drug trafficking, and the systematic intimidation of witnesses and the justice system. The verdict was seen as a landmark moment in Dutch criminal justice - a definitive response to the most serious organized crime threat the country had ever faced.

//Impact on Dutch Society

The Marengo trial fundamentally changed the Netherlands' understanding of its own organized crime problem. Before the case, the Dutch approach to drug trafficking was sometimes characterized by a degree of tolerance - the Netherlands' reputation as a liberal society extended, implicitly, to a certain acceptance that drug money flowed through its economy. The murders of Reduan B., Derk Wiersum, and Peter R. de Vries shattered that complacency. The government introduced new legislation to strengthen the protection of witnesses and legal professionals, expanded the authority of the National Police to investigate organized crime, and increased funding for the prosecution of drug trafficking networks. The security apparatus around the crown witness program was overhauled, and measures were taken to secure courts, lawyers, and journalists working on organized crime cases. But the Marengo trial also raised uncomfortable questions about how a criminal organization of this scale could operate for so long within Dutch borders. The ease with which Taghi's network recruited hitmen, corrupted insiders, and operated across international borders pointed to systemic vulnerabilities that a single trial could not address. Even after the verdict, investigations continue - the Taghi dynasty case, exploring how Ridouan continued to run operations from prison, remains active, as does the broader effort to dismantle the networks that served him.