Books
Nina's story in two parts: raw, honest and told from the inside.
True Crime - Maffiameid
About the book
Nina is the most beautiful girl on Curaçao, a little princess. Her mother is half-German, half-Antillean, with blonde hair and green eyes; her father is a dark-skinned Colombian. When Nina is twelve, she is torn away from the island and sent to live with her mother, who works as a prostitute in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Together with her new partner, her mother repeatedly terrorizes and abuses her daughter.
Nina runs away. What follows is a bizarre existence among junkies and prostitutes. Nina becomes involved with one of the biggest drug lords and rises to become a major drug courier operating between the Antilles, Suriname and Rotterdam. She becomes deeply involved in the upper echelons of the syndicate.
For years, Nina lives on the edge. Several times, she narrowly escapes death. Thanks to her disarming charm and gift of the gab, she manages to survive time and again.
The book recounting Nina’s life offers an unprecedented glimpse into the fascinating yet violent world of a criminal syndicate with roots in the Antilles, Suriname and the Netherlands.
Nina’s story can also be read as a dramatic love story: the tale of a rejected little princess and her volatile drug lord. *Beauty and the Beast*, this time set in the Antilles.
Hendrik Jan Korterink (1955) writes for, among others, *Nieuwe Revu* and *Panorama*. His bestsellers include *BV Bruinsma*, *Haagse penoze* and *Cor* (about Cor van Hout, one of the kidnappers of Freddy Heineken). His recent book focuses on the Holleeder family. On his website, he follows and reports on crime news daily.
THE MAFIA GIRL
About the book
Nina was abandoned by her mother as a baby and grew up in Curaçao with adoptive parents, without knowing her true origins. At the age of twelve, she was taken from Curaçao and brought to the Netherlands. Without a doubt, that can be called an unfortunate start in life.
Once in the Netherlands, things did not improve. Abused and humiliated by her mother and stepfather, Nina runs away. After several wanderings, she faces a choice: spend another night on the street, or find protection and shelter behind a window in the red-light district of Groningen?
An unusual life begins among drug addicts and prostitutes. Later, because of her intense relationship with a Surinamese drug trafficker, Nina becomes fully involved in his cartel. It is a criminal network about which very little is known, because it operates in a world that is virtually impenetrable to outsiders and controls smuggling routes from the Caribbean to the Netherlands. Numerous suitcases loaded with kilos of cocaine passed through customs at Schiphol Airport without obstruction.
For years, Nina lives on the edge, constantly brushing against death. On several occasions, she escapes it by the narrowest of margins. Thanks to her personal charm and her gift for conversation, she manages to survive time and time again. Nina's life story offers an exceptional glimpse into a world that is as fascinating as it is violent: the world of a mafia cartel.