Nijvel gang
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The Nijvel gang or Nivelles gang ("de Bende van Nijvel" or "de Bende" in Dutch, "Les Tueurs du Brabant" or "les Tueurs fous du Brabant" or "les Tueurs fous du Brabant Wallon" in French) is a group or groups thought to be responsible for the massacre of Brabant, a series of violent attacks that occurred in Brabant, Belgium from 1982 to 1985 and resulted in 28 deaths and over 20 others injured. Nivelles is a major town in the Walloon Brabant province and was considered the center of these crimes.
The gang carried out armed robberies of restaurants, stores, supermarkets and a weapons depot with almost military precision, leading to suspicions that this was an effort to destabilize the country coming from disgruntled members of the Gendarmerie, or Rijkswacht, a police force then partly supervised by the Belgian Minister of Defense. The weapons used to carry out the murders were stolen from a police arsenal.
According to the survivors' eyewitness testimonies, the gang was composed of three recurring gangleaders, assisted by a larger group of changing people. The three gangleaders were the Giant (because of his height), the Killer (who killed 23 out of the total 28 victims) and the Old Man (because of his age).
Until now, the identity and the whereabouts of the killers are still unknown.
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[edit] Possible motives
[edit] Militant groups
The gang(s) was(were) mentionned as linked to the neo-Nazi organization Westland New Post (WNP), which aimed to destabilize Belgian society and provoke an outrage of civil unrest in order "to establish a government lead by ultra-conservatives of the Parti Social-Chrétien".
This theory is based on rumours about the neo-Nazi connections of the Gendarmerie in Brussels as well as on the "military precision" of the attacks. All Rijkswacht-officers were trained in military law enforcement and commando actions.
The controversial Belgian nobleman Benoit de Bonvoisin, the so-called "Black Baron", was named one of the possible financiers of the Nijvel gang. The suicide of Westland New Post leader Paul Latinus may have actually been a camouflaged murder by the Nijvel Gang in April 1984.
The gang(s) was (were) also mentionned as linked to the communist CCC (Cellules Communistes Combattantes), though that organization's methods (bombings in which authorities were notified in advance) were not used in these crimes.
[edit] Gladio
The massacre of Brabant has also been linked to a conspiracy among the Belgian "stay-behind" network SDRA8—camouflaged in the Belgian military service, the Belgian Gendarmerie SDRA6 and the US secret service Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
Some high-placed investigators believed - and some still believe - that these "crimes" were pre-emptive actions against the communist threat in Western Europe. These actions were hence linked to Operation Gladio, a large paramilitary network, created and supported by NATO, which was active in many European countries to counterattack all possible communist operations. However, the Belgian parliamentary inquiry into Gladio found no substantive evidence that Gladio was involved with any terrorist acts or that criminal groups had infiltrated the stay-behind network.[1]
[edit] Pink ballets
The Belgian tabloids also developed another conspiracy theory based on one of Belgium's most famous urban legends, the so-called Roze Balletten ('Pink Ballets' in Dutch). These "Roze Balletten" were supposedly sex parties, mostly with young underaged girls and boys, which several eminent members of the Belgian high society were said to have participated in, including noblemen, high civil servants, politicians, ministers, business leaders and policemen.
Real-estate magnate Jacques Fourez and his secretary Elise Dewit, who were killed by the Nijvel gang in 1983, were supposed to have secret tapes of these parties. The killings of Jacques van Camp, Léon Finné and Constantin Angelou were also brought into connection with the Pink Ballets.
[edit] Organized crime
This theory is linked to illegal gun-running, which was in the 1980s one of mafia's core businesses in Cold War Europe. The murdered banker Léon Finné (in Overijse) was involved in illegal gun traffic.
[edit] Overview of the alleged crimes
[edit] 1982
- March 13: armed robbery of a retail store in Dinant. A hunting rifle was stolen. No people killed.
- August 14: armed robbery of a grocery store in Maubeuge, France. Tea and wine were stolen. No people killed.
- September 30: armed robbery of a weapons dealer in Wavre. Fifteen firearms were stolen, including several machine guns. One policeman was killed.
- December 23: armed robbery of a restaurant in Beersel. Coffee and wine were stolen. One person was killed.
[edit] 1983
- January 12: car-jacking of a cab in Mons. Nothing was stolen. The taxi driver was killed.
- February 11: armed robbery of a supermarket in Genval. Less than 18,000.00 $ was stolen. No people killed.
- February 25: armed robbery of a supermarket in Uccle. Less than 16,000.00 $ was stolen. No people killed.
- March 3: armed robbery of a supermarket in Halle. Less than 18,000.00 $ was stolen. One customer was killed.
- May 7: armed robbery of a supermarket in Houdeng-Gougnies. Less than 22,000.00 $ was stolen. No people killed.
- September 10: armed robbery of a textile factory in Temse. Seven bullet-proof jackets were stolen. One worker was killed.
- September 17: armed robbery of a supermarket in Nivelles. Nothing was stolen. Three people were killed.
- October 2: armed robbery of a restaurant in Ohain. Nothing was stolen. The owner was killed.
- October 7: armed robbery of a supermarket in Beersel. Less than 35,000.00 $ was stolen. One customer was killed.
- December 1: armed robbery of a jeweller in Anderlues. Some low-value jewels were stolen. Two people were killed.
[edit] 1985
- September 27: armed robbery and a killing in a supermarket Delhaize in Braine-l'Alleud Graignettestreet(rue de la Graignette),5. Less than 6,000.00 $ was stolen. Three people were killed, two people wounded.
- September 27: armed robbery and a killing in a supermarket Delhaize in Overijse, Brussels avenue(Brusselsesteenweg),399. Less than 25,000.00 $ was stolen. Five people were killed, one person wounded.
- November 9: armed robbery and a killing in a supermarket Delhaize in Aalst, Park avenue(Parklaan). Less than 25,000.00 $ was stolen. Eight people were killed, a few more people wounded.
[edit] Recent events
In 2004, the police reopened the case after having found some abandoned weaponry, clothing and jewellery in the Bois de la Houssière, the forest where the three main suspects were spotted for the last time in 1985.
In 2005, after an anonymous tip, the investigators hoped to find the buried corpse of one of the three gang leaders in the same forest, without any success.
In 2006, in the South of France, the houses of several notorious criminals were searched in order to find a new trace. Among these suspects was the super-criminal and former Rijkswacht/Gendarmerie (state police) member Madani Bouhouche, who died a few months before the house-search in a chainsaw accident while cutting a tree in his garden.[2]
In 2015, all these crimes will expire and no further prosecutions against the gang will be possible.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Belgian Chamber of Representatives, parliamentary investigation into the Nijvel gang. (French) (Dutch)
- Belgian Chamber of Representatives, parliamentary investigation into banditism. (French) (Dutch)
- Belgian Senate, parliamentary investigation into Gladio. (French) (Dutch)
- Belgian Senate, parliamentary investigation into private militias.(French) (Dutch)
