Ricardo Riquelme Vega, also known as “El Rico”, is a Chilean-Dutch criminal, who has been convicted of leading an organization specializing in assassinations and money laundering.[1][2] However, Vega has not been prosecuted nor convicted of specific murders.[3]
His first arrest for cocaine trafficking was in Germany in 1999.[1]
He is believed to have been in close contact with Naoufal Fassih a senior member of the gang suspected of being responsible for the murder and beheading of Nabil Amzieb.[1] However, Fassih has never been charged of that crime.
Vega was arrested in a hotel in Santiago, Chile in October 2017.[1]
On 31 May 2021 he was convicted of operating an assassination ring and laundering drug money.[2] The trial was held in a fortified court known as De Bunker near Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.[2] The court heard that he was in contact with Ridouan Taghi about organising murders.[2] Judges were also told his phone had a video featuring both Daniel Kinahan and Raffaele Imperiale.[2] It was alleged that Vega, Kinahan, Imperiale and Naoufal Fassih were involved in a drugs cartel – the Super Cartel – that dominated the market in Europe.[2]