Yab Yum (brothel)

From its beginning in the 1980s[3] until the legalisation of brothels in 2000, the Yab Yum operated as a "licensed club with no members" and was tolerated according to police guidelines, as long as no drugs and no violence were involved.

[5] In anticipation of the official legalisation of brothels on 1 October 2000, Yab Yum owner Theo Heuft applied to open a "relax service" at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, to offer exclusive food, drink and massages to travellers.

In an interview in Millionair Magazine in February 2008, Heuft said that the brothel made its best ever earnings, just over 40,000 euros, on the evening in 1985 when the Dutch football team beat Cyprus 7–1 in Amsterdam.

In 1998 it was alleged that a director of a brokerage house regularly obtained insider information by inviting senior executives to Yab Yum.

[8] In 1990, drug trafficker Klaas Bruinsma and his associate Roy Adkins fought in the club after one of their operations had gone sour; shots were fired but nobody was injured and nobody talked to the police.

[9] A newspaper article in 2006 reported that true ownership of the brothel had long been in the hands of mafia figures, beginning with Klaas Bruinsma, who called it "the club house".

At court, the city's lawyer alleged that owner Hennie Vittali was a front man for the Hells Angels, who had taken over the club in 1999 following blackmail and threats, buying it for €1.8m although the market price was put at €9m.

[17] "Yab-Yum" is Tibetan for "father-mother" and describes a symbol in Buddhist and Hinduist art showing a male and female god in sexual union.