Cor van Hout

Dutch gangster convicted in the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken and later killed in a gangland shooting in Amstelveen.

Editorial standard

Convictions, acquittals, allegations, intelligence assessments and contextual graph links are kept distinct. Cross-border links are added only when supported by documented geography, cases or trafficking structures.

Background

Van Hout was one of the principal perpetrators of the Heineken kidnapping.

Criminal network

He and Willem Holleeder fled to France after the ransom was paid and were later extradited and imprisoned.

Major case

After release Van Hout remained deeply involved in the Amsterdam criminal underworld and was convicted in 1998 of leading a drug-smuggling ring.

Legal outcome

He survived earlier attempts on his life before being shot dead outside a cafe in Amstelveen in 2003.

Graph role

His profile connects the Heineken kidnapping, Holleeder, Amsterdam gangland and the later liquidation era.

Death

– Date: 24 January 2003 – Place: Amstelveen, Netherlands – Cause / finding: shot dead

Network links

– Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken — kidnapper; convicted – Murder of Cor van Hout — victim – Amsterdam underworld network — major figure – Amstelveen — murder location

Direct people links

– Willem Holleeder — brother-in-law and kidnapping accomplice – Frans Meijer — kidnapping accomplice – Jan Boellaard — kidnapping accomplice

Sources

– The Guardian. End of road for crime king (2003-02-01). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/01/ianblack – The Guardian. Time's up for man who kidnapped boss of Heineken (2001-05-25). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/25/andrewosborn

Documented network and case context

Cor van Hout is easier to understand when the surrounding cases and people are kept attached to the biography. The current evidence graph records the strongest direct or contextual connections as Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken (kidnapper; convicted), Murder of Cor van Hout (victim), Amsterdam underworld network (major figure), Amstelveen (murder location), Willem Holleeder (brother-in-law and kidnapping accomplice), and Frans Meijer (kidnapping accomplice). These links are not treated as interchangeable: a conviction, a co-defendant relationship, an organizational role, a shared location and a later investigative association remain separate kinds of evidence.

Evidence trail

Timeline and case connections

Structured events are kept separate from general biography so later audits can update dates, convictions, organizational changes, killings or court outcomes without rewriting unrelated material.

Date not specified in current profile sources — Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. kidnapper; convicted

Date not specified in current profile sources — Murder of Cor van Hout. victim

24 January 2003 — Death of Cor van Hout. shot dead

Status and record

The structured birth record lists 1957. The death record lists 24 January 2003 in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Cause: shot dead.

Source record

The current Master package attaches the following evidence sources to this profile: – End of road for crime king — The Guardian, Tier 2. – Time's up for man who kidnapped boss of Heineken — The Guardian, Tier 2.

Each source supports only the claims tied to it. Structured source references remain attached so later audits can trace timeline and relationship records back to evidence.

Evidence and editorial boundaries

For living subjects especially, current status and legal claims need dated sourcing. The page therefore favors structured evidence over unsourced crime lore, and future expansion should come from stronger records or newly processed canonical entities.

How this profile fits the archive

Those counts describe the real state of the archive. Dense connections justify deeper navigation; sparse connections are a research signal. The page should grow when evidence creates real graph edges, not because a word-count target needs filler.

Unknown dates and unresolved associations remain explicit. Future source passes can add court outcomes, prison records, organization changes, books or screen portrayals without changing the person’s canonical identity.

Research state

At this depth pass, the article has been expanded from the evidence already stored for Cor van Hout. The current profile is strongest on the following documented context: Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken; Murder of Cor van Hout; Amsterdam underworld network; Amstelveen; Willem Holleeder; Frans Meijer.

The supporting source package currently includes End of road for crime king; Time's up for man who kidnapped boss of Heineken. Those records should remain the basis for future additions. A later pass should prioritize stronger primary documentation, precise dates, court outcomes, prison history, or newly processed organization and event nodes rather than adding generic background.

This keeps the page useful without turning uncertainty into narrative. Where the current Master does not yet know a date, relationship or legal outcome, that gap is preserved as a research task instead of being filled by assumption.

Future audit triggers