Drugs syndicate boss killed in Limburg days before trial

Silvio Aquino, one of the brothers at the head of what is alleged to be one of the country’s biggest crime families, was shot dead on Thursday on an industrial estate in Opglabbeek, Limburg, days before the trial against the family on drugs charges was due to resume in Hasselt.

According to police, Aquino’s car was blocked, and he was shot seven times. His wife, who was with him, was injured but managed to get to a nearby house. Another murder, of a man found on Thursday in Roermond, close to the Dutch border, has been confirmed as linked to the Aquino shooting, the Tongeren prosecutor’s office said.

The trial against Aquino and his brother Antonio was one of the largest the country has ever seen, involving the alleged sale of more than two tonnes of cocaine with a value of €72 million. There are 38 accused, and the prosecutor was demanding sentences of 15 years for the brothers.

The case was adjourned earlier this year when the defence claimed the prosecution was depending on evidence obtained by an infiltrator in the gang, which is not legal in Belgium. A court ruled, however, that the correct procedure had been followed.

Jef Vermassen, one of the defence lawyers representing Antonio Aquino, said he would seek an immediate adjournment as soon as the case resumes on 7 September. Three of the six Aquino brothers, all of whom have been linked to the drugs trade at some point, are on trial: Silvio; Antonio, also known as Raf; and Mario, aka Mano. The men’s wives and one of their sisters are also facing charges.

The body of the other man, who has not been publicly identified, was found close to a car stopped on the hard shoulder of the A73 shortly after the Aquino killing. He is thought to be one of the group involved in the attack on Aquino.

http://www.flanderstoday.eu/current-aff ... days-trial

The Belgian system doesn't make any sense then. So Donnie Brasco's or Jack Garcia's evidence would be considered just hearsay if it happened in Belgium? This is ORGANIZED CRIME, do they realize it, how they are supposed to fight it? How crazy...

This happened VERY close to where I live.

He is connected to 'Ndrangheta.

And the killers were Italians.

Tensions for trial over Aquino liquidation
The suspect responsible who is detained for the controversial liquidation (in 2015) of drug criminal Silvio Aquino (41) still hopes to avoid a trial, a decision will be made next month. Martino Trotta has now been in pre-trial detention for almost five years. Trotta was an enemy of the Aquino family, of Italian background. Both Trotta and the Aquinos come from Maasmechelen (B).


The indictment chamber (KI) in Tongeren will decide on December 1 whether Trotta and four co-defendants should appear before the assize court in 2021. In HLN , his lawyer Tim Smet says: 'My client denies being the initiator of the murder of Silvio Aquino. We await the verdict of the AI. My client hopes to be released before the assize process takes place. ' On Tuesday there was a session of the AI ​​on the referral of five suspects to the assize court, where a public jury must pass judgment. The investigation into the murder of Silvio Aquino was brought to the council chamber almost five years after date, which sent the file to the AI, with a view to referral to the assize court.

Silvio Aquino, was one of the brothers of the Aquino clan who stood trial in the court in Hasselt and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for cocaine smuggling. Silvio Aquino was murdered in 2015 before the court ruled. In 2006 he was convicted in a coke case in Amsterdam.

Silvio Aquino and his wife Silvia Liskova were trapped on August 27, 2015 in Opglabbeek (B), Aquino lost his life in a shootout but Liskova managed to get to safety. One of the attackers was fatally hit and his companions took him with them but eventually left him along the A73 in the Dutch town of Roermond. The dead was the son (22) of Sandro Hamidovic, one of the suspects. He had Italian nationality. A few weeks before the murder, the group allegedly tried to kidnap Aquino.

The executors were eventually arrested in France and Germany: four Bosniaks from the infamous Hamidovic family. Martino Trotta was arrested in January 2016 . The former restaurant keeper is said to have ordered the murder. During that detention, he was also sentenced to 6 years in prison for the smuggling of half a ton of cocaine in 2012 from Paraguay. He also became infected with the corona virus.

Only Trotta and Sandro Hamidovic are now in jail. The suspects have denied involvement. At the time of the attack, Trotta was in Antwerp.

The Aquinos probably have links with members of the Italian 'Ndrangheta. Once upon a time, the Aquinos regularly visited Trotta's restaurant, Da Zeca on the Oude Baan in Eisden, until problems arose.

In Tongeren (B) the jury trial has started against the suspects of the murder of Silvio Aquino, on August 27, 2015. The background of the case may become more clear. Was it a kidnapping that got out of hand or the result of a feud with another criminal family, De Standaard wonders.

Silvio Aquino (41) was the leading figure of the Aquino family, a notorious group from Belgian Limburg with connections in the Italian region of Calabria. He was a suspect, but at large, in a sizeable cocaine smuggling lawsuit, in which family members were later convicted.

Aquino himself shot at one of the attackers, who was later left behind on the Dutch highway A73.

One of the suspects is Martino Trotta (62, photo), restaurant owner from Zutendaal, once a friend of the Aquino family. He is said to have hired five members of the Bosnian family Hamidovic, a Roma clan, for the murder.

There are many rumors circulating, including a raid by the clan of Trotta at Antonetta Aquino, Silvio's sister, and about a drug scam by the Aquinos.

In the months after the murder, three of the four perpetrators were arrested in Cologne (Germany) and in Cannes on the French coast.

The Aquinos did their own research. They broke into the morgue where the body of the shot Samson Hudorovich lay. They took a photo and used it to look for traces of the other perpetrators. The photo also led them to Martino Trotta.

Martino Trotta was soon arrested by the police.

The process will take five weeks. There will be 102 witnesses.