Gang des postiches

The Gang des postiches ( _fr. Wigs Gang) is a famous team of bank robbers that operated in Paris between 1981 and 1986. With a rare boldness, they attacked about thirty banks.

They would enter the bank dressed in common clothing and wearing false mustaches, beards, and wigs (from which they got their name). After entering the bank, they would separate into two groups, the first responsible for taking hostages, while the second took their time taking cash from the bank's vault.

The media

Amidst the robberies, and in the absence of any leads for the investigators, journalists treated the robbers as almost heroes- being respectful to their hostages, and not portraying the hostages as victims. The robbers addressed the bank patrons and benefited from a strong sympathy among ordinary people, who smiled more than they were bothered when they heard that the "Gang des postiches" had struck again. They even spoke once of following a leftist guerilla ideology, which was clearly erroneous.

Organisation

It is known that the group consisted of a core group of 5 or 6 members from eastern Paris, but there were other loose members as well. They gathered to commit a series of hold-ups, even several in the same day, then separated for a while, sometimes went abroad, before they'd start again. This bank robbery team was considered one of the best in France.

The final chapter

The police and the government eventually lost their patience with the ease with which the "Gang des postiches" operated, their mythification by the press, all the resources that were deployed to combat them. They developed an anti-wig device in Paris bank branches. This system was far from effective, but the gang felt the pressure rising around them. They became more cautious, more nervous and less courteous with the hostages.

On January 14, 1986, the device was triggered, summoning the BRB (Banditry suppression brigade) and the BRI (Research and Action Briagade) around the Credit Lyonnais branch on 39 rue du Docteur-Blanche, in the 16th arrondissement, and this time it was effective. Police surrounded the bank discreetly knowing that the gang was inside, to stop them when they come out. Unfortunately when they came out the situation devolved into chaos, owing to the reckless action of the head of the BRB, Raymond Mertz.Fact|date=December 2007 In the ensuing shootout, one of the gangsters, Bruno Berliner, and a police officer, Jean Vrindts, were killed. In addition, there were 3 policemen wounded. Some of the robbers managed to escape. The fiasco revealed serious abuses originating from the police headquarters at 36 quai des Orfèvres.

Jean-Claude Myszka, André Bellaïche, and Patrick Geay were arrested in December 1986 in a villa in Yerres after almost a year on the run.

The accusations of responsibility for the actions of the BRB's 36 Quai des Orfèvres office led to a demonstration and a protest at the police office. In retaliation, the police hierarchy used the services of the IGS (National Police Inspector General) to break up the protest.

On January 14, 1986, one man, Dominique Loiseau, was accused of being a spy within the police. He was tried and convicted for it, but doubts remained among some about the facts. After almost 7 years in prison, he was pardoned by François Mitterrand in 1993.

His story inspired the Olivier Marchal film " 36 Quai des Orfèvres" and even more so Ariel Zeitoun's film "Le Dernier Gang" ("The Last Gang").

Of the previous members of the "Gang des postiches":
* Jean-Claude Myszka committed suicide in 2003.
* André Bellaïche was freed and runs a record store in Paris on rue Mouffetard.
* Patrick Geay is still incarcerated. He denies his affiliation with the gang. On October 31, 2006, he was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment by the Essonne Court of Appeals, which found him guilty of 5 robberies and an accomplice in the attempted murder of a police officer.
* Robert Marguery lives in Thailand.

The return of the Gang des postiches

In 2004, the case of the "Gang des postiches" resurfaced when the serial killer Michel Fourniret admitted that he acquired his fortune from the "Gang des postiches" when he recovered the gold bricks they stole during the 1980s from where they were hidden in cemeteries, upon his release from prison.

References

* "André Bellaïche. La vérité si je mens", Libération, 18 octobre 2007
* "http://www.maviesanspostiche.com", le blog d'André Bellaïche

ee also

*"Les Postiches, un gang des années 80", par Patricia Tourancheau, Fayard.
*"Un flic innocent en prison, l'histoire vraie qui a inspiré le film 36, quai des orfèvres" par Dominique Loiseau et Michel Naudy, Bernard Pascuito éditeur.
*"Ma vie sans postiche" par André Bellaïche, Editions First.