Inside story of Heineken Kidnapping

The first international breakthrough for Peter R. DeVries came during the high profile kidnapping of beer tycoon Alfred Heineken and his driver Ab Doderer in Amsterdam. The kidnapping was world news and the professional way in which the crime was planned and executed was a first for Holland. It lasted three weeks with a record ransom of EUR 16 million (USD 23m) being paid for Heinekens safe return. Peter R. DeVries wrote many illuminating articles for Holland’s largest newspaper. He personally shadowed the two main suspects after their transportation from French jail to the French Antilles. As a result of this close encounter the brain behind the criminal operation, Cor van Hout, entrusted Mr. DeVries with the whole story of the kidnapping in astonishing detail. Never before had a journalist achieved such a deep insight into the modus operandi of a professional criminal. The subsequent book, which still has reprints, became the best sold true crime novel of the Netherlands ever.