(Continued)
By Dan Riehl
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (Crime Library) —
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| Jossy Mansur |
Jossy Mansur is a man with a long history of animosity toward the Dutch government, of involvement in the island's politics and, in particular, animosity toward the Dutch Justice Ministry. Mansur had been named in a leaked top-secret report from Dutch intelligence services linking him to smuggling and, in essence, organized crime. Mansur sued to clear his name. Joran's father, Paulus Van Der Sloot, played a relatively minor role in that ministry as a judge in training.
Some claim that Mansur began the whispering campaign of unconfirmed stories told to the journalists, family members and others that descended upon Aruba when the media glare intensified:
Joran made and sold a child porno tape; Joran bragged about drugging young girls; Joran has an anger management problem; Joran was in the casinos every night, his father, too; Joran's done this to other girls, etc.
Eventually these unsubstantiated allegations, mostly from Diario or people associated with Mansur, were widely reported on America's cable television news. The alarming stories generated tremendous ratings as Joran and his friends were tried in a media feeding frenzy. For example:
From Rita Cosby: Police say in this allegedly authentic document that Joran said he left Natalee Holloway asleep on the beach and then left. And then he said he feels that Deepak Kalpoe raped and killed Natalee, then buried her in that area. We haven't seen the document. That is what the paper [Diario] says they have printed in today's edition.
Yet, while Arubans know Diario as a tabloid, most Americans do not. Various American journalists tried to verify these rumors and, in every case, they failed. There was simply nothing there, but that didn't stop the stories from playing their part in what was to become a kind of "perfect storm."
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