Judas: How a Sister’s Testimony Brought Down a Criminal Mastermind

In an exhaustive account, Holleeder—the sister of Dutch crime boss Willem “The Nose” Holleeder—reveals her role in the investigation that put her brother behind bars. The youngest of four, Holleeder outlines how childhood abuse led to Willem’s cruelty, writing that she and her siblings were “all prisoners of my father’s madness.” In 1983, when Holleeder was in her late teens, Willem and his friend Cor van Hout kidnapped Freddy Heineken, CEO of Heineken Brewing, and ransomed him. Both Willem and Cor were sent to prison for the crime, and the high-profile ordeal embroiled the entire Holleeder family—especially Holleeder’s older sister, Sonja, who had a baby with Cor and later married him. Holleeder writes, “In the court of public opinion, we’d all become criminals.” After their release from prison in 1992, Willem and Cor went on to oversee an empire of corruption, with Holleeder serving as a confidante to both men. Years later, when Willem ordered the murder of Cor and threatened to kill Sonja, Holleeder turned on her brother. Holleeder’s detailed transcripts of secretly taped conversations with Willem add an element of intrigue, as does the afterword in which Holleeder addresses her brother directly, writing, “Wim, I still love you,” even as he attempts to coordinate her murder from his prison cell to prevent her from testifying against him. Written while awaiting her brother’s trial, Holleeder’s engrossing story reads like the last will and testament of a dead woman walking. [em](Aug.) [/em]