Author: Carter McLellan – Date: November 12, 2021

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Timeline: The Gang’s reign of terror
3. Suspects and their connections
4. Conclusion
5. Notes

“If you’re looking for the motives behind the killings in the Brabant, start by understanding the motives behind that gigantic swindle [of the sniffer planes scandal]” – (Quote of one of the top police investigators working on the Brabant killings; Libertés, 14/2/91; cited by David Teacher in ‘Rogue Agents’)

“It seems that a number of (criminal) facts in Walloon-Brabant are directly linked to certain financial and political interests…” -(March 18, 1985, BOB office Gerard Bihay of the Wavers Gendarmerie, summary created for examining magistrate Schlicker; cited by Hugo Gijssels in the “The Gang & Co.’)

“It is important that Walloon Brabant does not become the territory of massacres …” -(October 5, 1982, Public Prosecutor Jean Depretre of Nivelles)

Introduction

This article was destine to be a large one. Although there is a good amount of repeat information, this author has never fully summarized the actions of the Gang of Nijvel. This is done so here, but with the addition of important contextual information. Many of the leads discussed in the review chapter will likely be taken up in other articles. The very significant Sniffer planes scandal was put in the timeline, but will likely be discussed more in-depth with another article. Le Mirano nightclub has already been given its own article.

This article intends to primarily summarize the crimes of the Bende and to also briefly discuss the primary suspects. An attempt will be made to add any new information, as well as any missed information. One important aspect that is largely missed in this article, at the moment, is an explanation of how the coverup took place. This will be added in the future.

Timeline: The Gang of Nijvel’s crimes and background

The following rather expansive timeline captures a significant amount of context to the Brabant killings, which are incredibly relevant to the connections discussed in the following chapter.

*Date color code key: Directly Gang of Nijvel / Brabant killers – red; Group G / Group M, FJ/WNP/PIO/EIM, NBD, CEPIC related – green; Sniffer Planes scandal, Opus Dei, Le Cercle and AESP related – light blue; Operation Gladio, NATO, EU and WTC related – orange; Pink Ballets, Pinon affair, EHS, Mirano and X-dossiers related – pink:

Some essential background to the Bende (Past – 1980):

• 1903: Reported Masonic plot to install Cardinal Rampolla (reportedly linked to OTO) as Pope failed. Masonic infiltration already started in 1800s with Giuseppe Mazzini of the Carbonari and as prescribed in the Alta Vendita, which Pope Leo XIII requested be published. Benito Mussolini would eventually be viewed as the second Mazzini.
• 1914-1918: WWI.
• 1922: Paneuropa Union (PEU) founded.
• 1928: Opus Dei founded.
• May 1940-September 1944: During WWII Belgium was invaded by Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in May 1940, which resulted in the government and military having to flee in exile to London, Britain. Despite military surrender, King Leopold III remained in Brussels after the invasion, claiming the need to remain with his troops. Leopold III surrendered his troops on May 29, to which the exiled Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot claimed went against the Belgian Constitution for having made not only a military decision, but a political one without his ministers’ advice. These decisions of Leopold III were also denounced by Winston Churchill. The British press called him a traitor. In November, Leopold met Adolf Hitler, who was said to have saved Leopold twice. On September 11, Leopold III married for the second time to Princess Lilian Baels de Rethy. In the summer of 1942, the British SOE successfully established arms dumps in Belgium and created and trained a secret army. The whole operation was directed from London in coordination with the secret army. The secret army carried out sabotage operations against the occupying Nazis, as well as information collection operations which the agents transmitted to London. In 1944, Leopold was ordered to be deported to Germany by Heinrich Himmler. The activities of this original stay-behind army became greatly admired by the British and American secret service toward the end of the war in 1944. In this postwar period, the enemy shifted from Nazi Germany to Communist Soviets, which led to the Cold War.
• 1944-1950: In 1944, Leopold III’s brother Prince Charles headed a regency established by the legislature. Serious upheaval occurred particularly in Wallonia over the legitimacy of the King. The Americans liberated King Leopold III in May 1945. The P2 Lodge of Italy was reportedly formed in 1945. However, as a result of the upheavals in Belgium, Leopold and his family had to remain in exile until 1950, during which time they stayed in Switzerland. In 1946, a commission exonerated Leopold of treason, but controversy persisted nonetheless. On January 22, 1948, British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin gave speech about his “Union Occidental” plan, which was to be an international organization designed to counter the “Soviet threat” to Europe; a threat which included invasion by the Red Army and Communist subversion of western Europe. The US was also aware of this plan, according to a March 8 memorandum. This speech is said to have inspired the creation of the Western Union Clandestine Committee (WUCC/CCWU), on March 17, 1948. In 1948, it is said that some rightwing groups in support of King Leopold III established their first contacts with the American embassy. Paul Vanden Boeynants entered politics in 1948, joining the Parti Social Chretiens (PSC). VdB also attended the second conference of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), where he met Pierre de Bonvoisin. In 1948, the mostly French involved Comité International pour la Défense de la Civilisation Chrétienne (CIDCC) was founded. On January 27, 1949, British MI6 head Stewart Menzies wrote to Belgian Prime Minister Paul Henri Spaak urging him in continuing collaboration between Britain and Belgium started in WWII must continue. Also that “Anglo-Belgian” cooperation between special services should be pursued on the basis of traditions set in WWI and that the “Belgian Gladio had to be continued.” Menzies urged Spaak not to collaborate solely with the CIA. In 1949, the Atlantic Alliance formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Paris, France. In 1949, VdB entered the parliament and joined the Commission of Economic Affairs and Middle-class of Parliament. VdB with Jo Gerard set up the successful Comite for the Revival of the PSC. VdB also began a Red Scare campaign mirroring the one of McCarthy in the US. In 1950, VdB joined the Commission of the Parliament. However, in the following year, one of the most violent general strikes in Belgium occurred upon Leopold’s return in 1950. Three protestors were killed when gendarmes opened fire at protestors. Belgium was in a state of civil war and in Wallonia the Belgian banners were replaced by Walloon flags. In 1950 a referendum was held on Leopold’s future, in which socialists and Walloons were opposed, while Christian Democrats and Flemish were mostly in favor. On August 1, Leopold decided to withdraw in favor of his 20-year-old son Baudouin. The abdication would take effect on July 16, 1951 and until King Baudouin got married in 1960, there was a sort of “diarchy” in place between him and his parents during this period.
• August 11-18, 1950: During a constitution oath of then-Prince Baudouin of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, before becoming King of the Belgians on August 11, someone shouted “Viva la Republique,” which was attributed to the communist party chairman Julien Lahaut, although may have been someone next to him. Among the uproar that followed was the later Prime Minister, fascist and staunch monarchist Paul Vanden Boeynants, who reportedly went berserk, having to be restrained from physically attacking the communist party member at the gathering. One week later, Lahuat was gunned down in front of his home by two unknown perpetrators. Allegedly, it was discovered much time later that one of the assassins was a certain “Adolph”, who was part of the Belgian Stay-Behind network around SDRA8, part of action unit of the Belgian version of Operation Gladio in Italy and officially formed in 1956.

• Early 1950s: At some point, after high level negotiations between secret services of Belgium, Britain and the USA, they organized the ‘Tripartite Meeting Brussels/Belgian’ (TMB), next to which other centers were created. In the beginning of the 1950s, Colonel Charlier (SAS-linked) created SDRA, which was subdivided into eight 8 units. In April 1951, the WUCC was integrated into NATO and became the ‘Clandestine Planning Committee’ (CPC). Also formed in 1951 was NATO’s Supreme Allied Headquarters Europe (SHAPE), where the CPC was located. The rather obscure Conseil International pour l’Ordre Chrétien (CIOC) apparently disappeared in early 1950s.
• 1951: Having been demolished sometime during or after WWII, the location of the old cinema A la Girafe at no. 38, Chausse de Louvain, Saint-Josse, Brussels, was rebuilt by Rene Ajoux, who had last modified the entrance in 1942 before it was demolished. Around that time, in 1942, the cinema tycoon Georges Van Vlasselaer had completed his renovations of the place. Ajoux gave the place its notorious neon lit entrance and its sign: “Cine Mirano”. The place continued to show films until 1978.
• September 28, 1951: Belgian Prime Minister Jean Van Houtte, Justice Minister Moyersoen and Defense Minister Eugene De Greef signed letter specifying the missions of Belgian Gladio units SDRA8 and STC/Mob.
• 1952: Centre of Documentation and Information (CEDI) founded.
• 1953-1954: In 1953 Le Cercle was founded and in the following year the first Bilderberg Conference is held.
• 1955: In an effort to neutralize the labor wing of the PSC, VdB formed the Mouvement des Independants et des Cadres (MIC).
• Around 1955: The Centre de Recherche du Bien Politique was founded. The Konrad Adenauer Foundations was also founded in the same year.
• November 26, 1956: Operation Gladio officially formed.
• 1957: US, UK, France and “Benelux countries”, all of which ran Stay-behind organizations (SBOs) in Western Europe at this point, established the ‘Six Powers Lines Committee’, (SPLC). Clandestine stay-behind (SB) units were first created with the experience of former SOE officers.
• 1958-1961: VdB became Minister of the Middle-Classes. He also became a director of Expo 58, which impressed King Baudouin. VdB also helped out his friend Aldo Vastapane in his business endeavors at the Zaventem new airport, coincidentally also where Emile Boas’ ASCO factory was located, founded in 1954.
• Late 1950s-early 1960s: Belgian royals as King Baudouin, Prince Charles and then Prince Albert II together with prominent businessmen and politicians as Vanden Boeynants, Charles Ferdinand Nothomb, Charly De Pauw, Willy Claes, Dr. Vanden Eynde and others among some 50 persons involved in horrendous child abuse and murder, according to victim-witness X3. VdB once made a remark about the period of 1960-1961.
• Late 1950s-1970s: Period in which Fortunato Israël would have likely left Egypt following the aftermath of the Suez crisis and strain with Israel and thus local Jews. Fortunato was a woman from a rare Jewish family and likely the Jewish community in Alexandria in the 1950s. She was educated at the French Lyceum, which was known to have been a place where Zionists tried to gain support. Fortunato, already fluent in French, would have gone to Holland, Netherlands, where she probably learned Dutch. She also knew Arabic and likely Hebrew, as well as English. At some point, in the 1970s, Fortunato ended up in Belgium, where she came to run a European wide call-girl/prostitution ring. She somehow came into contact with Roger Boas of ASCO.
• April 29-30, 1958: A second secret command center next to the CPC was created within NATO called the ‘Allied Clandestine Committee’ (ACC) (formerly the SPLC), which allegedly held its first meetings in France, under the French presidency of Rene Coty.
• June 1958: CIDCC held first International Conference in Bonn and Berlin, Germany. Delegates from nine countries. Hermann Lindrath elected President. One of the conference Vice-Presidents was Antoine Pinay.
• January 5, 1959: Pinay payed urgent visit to Pope John XXIII and his Secretary of State Cardinal Tardini. He revealed that they discussed Franco-Vatican relations and likely also spoke of the new Debré government in France formed three days later and in which Pinay became Finance Minister. The Debré government would also have included several other figures later involved in the sniffer planes scandal.
• 1959: The Institut d’Etudes Politique Vaduz was founded in this year.
• 25-27 January, 1960: II International Conference of CIDCC held in Madrid, Spain. Franco’s government arranged a permanent premises in Madrid for the CIDCC headquarters. CIDCC President Lindrath was unable to attend and died on February 13, after which rivalries befell the organization.
• 1961-1966: Vanden Boeynants became chairman of the PSC/CVP alliance. In the early 1960s VdB called upon Baron Benoît de Bonvoisin to help make realignments to the PSC.
• 1962: US Major-General Charles Andrew Willoughby founded the American branch of CIDCC, which was funded by H. L. Hunt.
• 1962-1965: Vatican II took effect.
• Early 1960s: The Charlemagne dinners began to be organized.
• 1963-1978: Masonic plot to takeover Vatican allegedly succeeded with Pope Paul VI.
• 1963: The Centre d’Observation du Mouvement des Idées founded in ‘63. Also founded in the same year was the small fascist think tank and publishing agency Europe-Action, which existed until 1967.
• 1964: Ordre du Rouvre founded.
• 1965-1969: Belgian Count Alain de Villegas became interested in the new type of desalination system of Italian telephone-company electrician Aldo Bonassoli. The device was tested on a campsite on Ibiza owned by Bernard de Marcken de Merken. After the device proved not to work as expected, the team started work on a related concept, a “water sniffer” that would find water. Villegas later once said, “We can live without oil, but not without water.” De Villegas would stick with the concept and bring in his contacts.
• 1965: Opus Dei officially began their work in Belgium.
• 1966-1968: Paul Vanden Boeynants is Prime Minister of Belgium. His term ended with the Linguistic Wars of 1967-1968. Under VdB Belgium joined NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC), which became the EU.
• 1960s: Baron de Bonvoisin founded l’Institut Europeen de Developpement, located in his castle. Bernard Mercier was its director and it also was associated with Vankerhoven. The European Institute of Management (EIM) was also founded in the 1960s.
• 1966: Aginter Presse founded in Portugal which involved Yves Guerin-Serac, Otto Skorzeny and Stefano delle Chiaie.
• 1967: At the age of 17, Paul Latinus was recruited and trained by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and later received training from NATO. Latinus was a “Nazi”/fascist and a reserve lieutenant in the Belgian Air Force. He also became a Surete informant.
• 1967-1968: NATO relocates from France to Belgium. The ACC moved to Brussels in the following year, where with its NATO funded front SDRA11 it administered within the Belgian military secret service SGR, headquartered in Evere, directly behind NATO installations. SDRA8 was funded by the Belgian Department of Defense. SDRA6 was the Gendarme unit. The Stay-behind’s civilian section was STC/Mob located within the Belgian State Security (Surete). NATO’s SHAPE would become headquartered in Mons, near Charleroi. NATO also came to have headquarters in Brussels and Castreau.
• 1968: Baron de Bonvoisin potentially met David Rockefeller and Antoine Pinay at this point, at the first Le Cercle meeting in US. If not this year, then in the 1970s.
• 1968: Michele Sindona, funder of P2, attempt to takeover Carlo II Pesenti’s business empire permanently weakened Pesenti’s funds. Pesenti was forced to borrow from his own bank, then sell them each to recover his debts and he had to sell his lossmaking car company in 1969. Pesenti also borrowed substantially from the notorious Banco Ambrasiano of Roberto Calvi and its offshoots. Also in 1968, Bonnasoli claimed to have invented a “death ray”, but which failed to perform lethally before journalists.
• 1969: King Baudouin appointed Vanden Boeynants the honorary title of Minister of State.
• 1969-1970: Anneke Lucas victim of child abuse network led by Paul Vanden Boeynants. Potentially in contact with David Rockefeller, including Satanic ritual sacrifice possibly in Switzerland and mind control facility in Germany. Also since the early 1970s, VdB was among the earliest abusers of Regina Louf (X1) at Madam Cecile Beernaert’s hotel-villa in Knokke.
• April 3, 1969: Cercle des Nations founded by Paul Vankerkhoven and his allies.
• 1969-1970: A number of other key organizations formed in 1969. Among them were the CREC, the AESP, the MAUE of the PEU, and the LIL of the WACL. In 1970, the P7 lodge of the Italian P2 lodge was formed in Belgium. The SSPX was founded by Marcel Lefebvre in 1970.
• 1969-1970: CIDCC received two major blows. Eventually the German section of CIDCC closed down in March 1970. The CIDCC disappeared after this point. However, it is said the Italian branch remained active into the 1970s and to have had “significant street presence” at the beginning of the stragi.
• Late 1969: Through contacts in the PEU, de Villegas was about to get Jean-Eugene Violet of French intelligence SDECE and Le Cercle of Antoine Pinay. AESP core members Florimond Damman, de Villages and De Marcken de Merken met Jean Violet at Westbury hotel to discuss how to proceed with the sniffer plans project. An initial attempt in vain was to secure funding from American military aviation industrialist Crosby Moyer Kelly, who needed to see the device proven legitimate.
• December 1969-January 1970: Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller make correspondences regarding Violet’s letter to Kelly, in the context of French-American Middle Eastern policy. ⁃ Kissinger’s skepticism about Violet’s overblown claims of access to newly- elected French President Pompidou coincided with a damning leak of information about a meeting between Kissinger, Rockefeller and other oil industry figures in an unidentified newspaper article which ultimately killed off any idea of closer American involvement with the sniffer plane project. However, as Violet was involved in “Sint Unum”, described as a “clandestine Catholic international organization whose aims are to oppose Communism and further the principles of Christianity” and which had been founded in the immediate post-war period, he would eventually secure initial funding from Carlo II Pesenti, who had been the one to invite Rockefeller to attend Le Cercle. Pesenti funded Le Cercle and the AESP. A new company was registered in Panama and formed in Switzerland, called Fisalma, Inc., under the direction of UBS president Philippe De Weck.
• 1969-1970: “Cercle complex” suffered three major setbacks in this period. The British IRD cutoff contacts with Brian Crozier’s Interdoc, leaving his newer ISC to maintain British link with “Continental Allies”. In September 1969, Willy Brandt’s government took over Germany, which was hostile toward right and formed diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union. However, in France, in June 1969 the government of Georges Pompidou, who in October 1970 appointed Aexandre Comte de Marenches as the new SDECE head. Subsequently in a major purge of the intel agency, the 15-year contract of Violet to the SDECE was abruptly cut, specifically for cost reasons and value of his intel. Elf Aquitaine;s PSA hired a number of those dismissed by Marenches.
• March 10, 1970: The US Army Field Manual 30-31 Supplement B supposedly created by order of US Army Chief of Staff, General W.C. Westmoreland, was printed. This document was much later confirmed authentic by Ray S. Cline. It somehow ended up in possession of P2 head Licio Gelli, who claimed it had been given to him by the CIA. The document was shunned off by the State Department in early 2000s, regarding it in typical Michael Ledeen propaganda fashion, as a work of Soviet disinformation.
• April 6, 1970: At the Spanish embassy in Belgium, De Villegas met with Director-General of Information and Tourism Ernesto Laorden Miracle, a former Spanish Ambassador, under Minister of Tourism Alfredo Sanchez Bella, who would be able to promote De Villegas’ scheme and provide several test sites in Spain. Tests for the sniffer device would have proven unsuccessful.
• 1970: World Trade Center Association founded, of which Vanden Boeynants and De Pauw were members and helped build the old WTC buildings in Brussels. The WTCA involved numerous other prominent persons.
• 1970: Etterbeek, Brussels, Psychiatrist Dr. Andre Pinon married Josianne Jeuniau and together they have two children. Wife became the secretary of advisor Legrand in the cabinet of Minister de Donnea. Also in 1970, Roger Boas took over ASCO from his father Emile Boas. Roger would have a business relationship with VdB.
• December 1970: De Villegas flew out to the Canaries with a contract to locate underground sources of drinkable water on a site belonging to the Spanish Tourism Agency, Entursa,
• May 1971: In 1971 Vanden Boeynants with funding from de Bonvoisin founded Nouvel Europe Magazine (NEM), which was published by CIDEP of BdB. Emile Lecerf became its editor. The magazine made its first reference to a coup in May. NEM also moved to a premises owned by BdB. NEM clubs would eventually be formed centered around the magazine.
• 1972: Vanden Boeynants, de Bonvoisin and Vankerkhoven founded the Centre Politique des Independents et des Cadres Chretiens (CEPIC), an apparent continuation of the earlier MIC. VdB became Minister of National Defense the same year, until 1979. Throughout the 1970s, VdB’s advisors were Baron de Bonvoisin and Nicolas de Kerchove d’Ousselghem. It has been alleged that since 1972 planning began to destabilize Belgium in order to bring in a stronger government that could more effectively counter “KGB subversion” of labor unions and left-wing political parities.
• 1972-1974: Vanden Boeynants goes to hotel-villa Sunny Corner of Madam Cecile Beernaert, where he abused Regina Louf (X1). Louf also met Tony Van Den Bogaert there. VdB at some point came up with the idea of the hunts. Anneke Lucas also involved network until 1974. Jean-Michel Nihoul was a central figure in both Lucas and Louf’s testimonies. Patrick Haemers and his father Achielle Haemers were important figures in Lucas’ testimony. In Louf’s testimony, VdB and Nihoul are involved in pedophile blackmail.
• 1972-1975: Defense Minister Vanden Boeynants and General Leon Francois set up the National Bureau for Drugs (NBD) within the Gendarmerie. NBD personnel received training for the CIA. Francois would be advised by DEA affiliated Frank Eaton and James Guy.
• 1972: After the 1972 acquisition of one-third stake in Italcementi by Sindona, Pesenti was forced to get loans from his own banks again, but had to cut funding for Violet. Pesenti was able to fight off Sindona with help of De Weck. Pesenti also apparently got a substantial loan from the IOR of Paul Marcinkus in ’72. Also in 1972, Jean Tropel at Elf Aquitaine hired Violet as a lawyer for the bank, after Violet contacted Colonel Franck. Violet would inform Franck of the “incredible new technology.”
• 1973-1975: While unsuccessful testing was being taken out, the Yom Kippur Wat of October 1973 broke out, which caused oil prices to quadruple. De Villegas then announced that his sniffer machine could also detect oil, which persuaded Pesenti to provide addition funds. In March 1974, ISC published reports on oil in South Africa and its importance. Through contacts of Pinay and Vorster, De Villegas would be able to fly their sniffer equipment to South Africa, in the summer of 1974, where they gained authorization to conduct tests over Zululand for the state’s oil company Sasol. On August 7, 1974, De Villegas while in Pretoria to test the sniffer planes wrote a letter to Florimond Damman, showing the influence of the AESP. Pesenti’s engineers fitted one of the machines into a Douglas DC-3 for the surveys. A site identified by the machine and drilling began, but by the end of 1975 the costs became so high that Pesenti opted out. The bore eventually bottomed out with a drill stem at 6,000 meters and no oil. Around the time these preliminary trials were ensured in Spain and a prospection campaign in South Africa, Violet hoped to get Elf Aquitaine to accept the project. It was Tropel who would ensure security for trips and would take care of some of the coming financial arrangements.
• 1973: Vanden Boeynants, de Bonvoisin, Army Major Jean-Marie Bougerol and Count Arnould de Briery were involved in “l’Ordre Blue”, the codename for an aborted 1973 coup plot. Also in 1973, fascists from the NEM clubs formed the private paramilitary group Front de la Jeunesse (FJ), which came to be headed by Francis Dossogne. De Bonvoisin funded FJ through PDG and CEPIC and Dossogne was a paid advisor to him.
• 1974: Vanden Boeynants and de Bonvoisin form the Public Information Office (PIO), which they made sure was headed by Bougerol, who had been a member of SDRA8. FJ head Dossogne would then take orders from PIO head Bougerol. De Bonvoisin and De Kerchove were VdB’s channel to the PIO, which had its civilian branch headquartered next too the CEPIC and PDG. PIO had a propaganda outlet called Inforep. Bougerol also formed his own action group of correspondents called the Miller network.
• 1974-1975: De Bonvoisin, Lecerf and Albert Lambert founded the Parti des Forces Nouvelles (PFN), which was essentially the political arm of FJ. PFN held first congress at CEPIC headquarters.
• 1975: According to Martial Lekeu, the clandestine organizations linked to FJ, Group G and Group M, were formed by this time and began planning for a political coup. Group G was to work toward infiltrating the Gendarmerie, while Group M worked in infiltrating groups favorable to the military, where they would push their point of view. An important meeting between fascists took place at the castle of de Bonvoisin in 1975 at Maizeret. This meeting was organized by Lecerf who invited a number of fascist leaders as Front de la Jeunesse head Francis Dossogne and representatives of the MSI from Italy, the French branch of Parti des Forces Nouvelles, the National Front from Britain, Fuerza Nueva from Spain and Ordine Nouvo from Italy. In October 1975, then Prince Albert II, honorary president of the Belgian Foreign Trade Service of the administration of Prime Minister Leo Tindemans, led a trade mission to Saudi Arabia.
• 1976: Child hunts were expanded from Knokke to two castles located East of Namur and North of Faulx-les-Tombes. FJ, Group G and Diana Group are suspected of having provided security and protection for these sordid events. Also in 1976, Gendarme officer Roger Tratsaert stated that there was a silent right-wing coup in preparation for Belgium and that it centered around the Nouvel Europe Magazine and (ex-) officers of the military.
• 1976: The ‘Allied Clandestine Committee’ of NATO eventually became the ‘Allied Coordination Committee’ (ACC).
• 1976: At some point in 1976, De Villegas and Bonassoli were introduced to Elf officials, apparently through Violets contacts. Bonassoli explained how he came upon the idea of the technology. He told how he developed two machines, “Delta” and “Omega”. The former detected oil from air and output a paper report, while the latter mapped out the resources from closer ranges and displayed on a TV screen. Bonassoli was willing to demonstrate the devices, but without any scientists present, claiming they could steal his ideas. Information about the invention quickly spread in French political hierarchy. There is no record of anyone having checked out or scrutinized the technology and it has been said that there was a kind of political chauvinism surrounding the deal. As explained in Wikipedia: “… Elf-Aquitaine, a petroleum company, was almost wholly controlled by the government, as were similar companies in other European nations and Canada. Unlike those companies, Elf had little crude oil supply of its own, and few known deposits for future commercialization. Elf was in danger of losing its status as a producer, at some point becoming nothing more than another refiner. If the devices could find new sources of oil practically anywhere, as was being claimed, Elf might remain among the small family of oil-producing European nations. This possibility was so attractive that the official involved overlooked any doubts that were expressed, while also keeping the project completely secret.”
• February 1976: AESP holds key events as their Grand Assembly and the Grand Diner Charlemagne.
• March 31, 1976: Violet sends cassette message to Damman critical due to financial constraints at the time, which was the primary concern for the AESP.
• April 16, 1976: Violet sends another cassette to Damman, searching for backers, almost certainly referring to final negotiations going on with Elf with Fisalma. At this point, Elf had been testing the machine for some time and was now interested in acquiring exclusive rights over the invention. At meetings with Elf, De Villegas would be accompanied by the “inner circle” of Pinay including Father Dubois.
• April 30-May 7, 1976: The devices were demonstrated to Elf officials, who obliged Bonassoli’s request for no scientists. The devices not much larger than a few photocopiers were installed in a transport plane behind curtains and flown over known oil fields. The reports came out, and looked almost identical to previously published explorations reports. The Elf observers, including the company founder Pierre Guillaumat were supposedly completely convinced.
• May 29, 1976: Deal between Elf and Fisalma was signed. Elf was to make four quarterly payment of 50 million Swiss francs. The first was scheduled for June 15, the second for October 15. In September 1976, the new Prime Minister became Raymond Barre, who learned of the devices when he signed a off on various currency restrictions in order to transfer fund abroad to Swiss bank accounts.
• June 2, 1976: Meeting between Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Elf President Guillaumat and Pinay. The Cercle complex’s financial situation would dramatically increase.
• June 14, 1976: Fortunato “Tuna” Israël is public relations director of Eurosystem Hospitalier (EHS) of the Eurosystem Health Consortium. At this point, she came to run an international call-girl/prostitution network, which spanned several countries. On June 14, Eurosystem signed a major deal with the NATO-trained Saudi national guard of Prince Abd Khaled and Prince Abdullah worth 36,257,829 francs, to build and exploit hospitals in Jeddah and Riadh, Saudi Arabia. The deal reportedly involved notables as Prince Albert II, Paul Vanden Boeynants, Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin, Charly De Pauw, Ado Blaton and Roger Boas. As Eurosystem Hospitalier public relations director, the services of Fortunato “Tuna” Israël were called in to service Prince Albert II, the Saudi prince(s) and their cohorts during business trips. Employees of Adnan Khashoggi were also among Tuna’s customers.
• October 8-13, 1976: Violet sent another cassette to Damman optimistic about AESP funding, saying “Good perspectives for 1977.” Damman was happy about this and was ready to put the funds to use.
• 1977-1979: Damman’s diaries repeatedly mention large cash transfers from de Villegas, more than likely coming from Elf’s payments for the Sniffer planes technology. January 7, 1977, Damman received payment from de Villegas 1.2 millions, likely Swiss francs. On January 8th, Damman received 4,000 Swiss francs from Jacques Jonet and 100,000 from Violet. In November 1977, De Villegas sent Damman 200,000 and in December 50,000. In January 1978, De Villegas sent 75,000 and in March 20,000. This was in Swiss francs according to Aldo-Michel Mungo. The King of Morocco was informed by Elf about their technology having detected oil fields on May 29, 1978. June 21, ’78, Damman wrote that a dossier was provided for the Moroccan ambassador. On June 24, 1978, Elf signed a second contract with Fisalma, stipulating payment of a further 500 million Swiss francs, half of which was due upon signature. This contract gave Elf the right to inspect the internal workings of devices, which eventually allowed them to detect the fraud by May 1979, following warning from Alexandre de Marenches that the sniffer planes deal had been set up by an “international swindler.” From April to September 1979, before the house of cards came falling, De Villegas provided the full funding for the Cercle Charlemagne, which had been inaugurated in April 1978, but shutdown several months later. From 19-30 August 1978, De Villegas snigger planes carried out program in Morocco. In spite of numerous “successful” attempts, every attempt to drill at indicated locations turned up empty. Bonassoli repeatedly claimed that it appeared to be “too accurate” to be used and required further development. The Elf contacts remained confident in the devices and would provide documentation of previous studies, which were put through the device.
• 1977-1978: PIO recruited Paul Latinus as an intelligence agent, 1977. In the following year of 1978, Latinus joined the Front de la Jeunesse (FJ) and became a leading member of Group G.
• 1977-1979: Significant delays in the EHS-Saudi deal occur when the Mexican subcontractor of EHS went broke. In a case of mismanagement, while the EHS is barely in the possession of of 5 million franks of capital, the Saudi initiators cut payments. Fortunato “Tuna” Israël’s prostitution network taken over by one of her call-girls Lydia Montaricourt. However, in 1978, German police in Munich find a deceased prostitute in an apartment, which was owned by Lydia Montaricourt. The Germans send a request to the Belgians to investigate Lydia. This is how Lydia came under an investigation. At this point, it has been reported, Henri Jaspar and Paul Vanden Boeynants were part of her clientele. The prostitute Maud Sarr and likely Christine Doret would have been involved at this point. In 1978, VdB became Prime Minister until 1979. The month before leaving office, according to X1, VdB was present as Madame Cecile’s where he abused her while giving birth at 12, together with de Bonvoisin, Vander Elst and Lippens brothers. By 1979, EHS went fraudulently bankrupt. The other eight consortium members were left to finish the project, and the maintenance of the hospitals going to British and American companies. Somehow, an order of the value of 100 billion franks went missing and no less than 8.5 billion franks having been payed for bribes “rashwa”, which was how the EHS consortium had been able to overcome British and American competition. By 1979, Fortuno Israel was on the payroll of ASCO of Roger Boas, to whom she was a mistress.
• 1979: The relationship between Dr. Pinon and Jeuniau began to wane. So, Pinon looked for a private detective, to find out if his wife was cheating on him. He came upon the private detective Bob Louvigny, whom he hired. He quickly found out that Jeuniau was spending the night in Waterloo with a colleague of Pinon, a certain Doctor Bettens. As the story goes, one thing led to another and Louvigny informed Pinon that his wife also attends, possibly involved in organization, rather wild sex parties. These parties involved the use of drugs and the abuse of minors, under the age of 16. These parties would be at the center of what became the Pinon affair. What’s more, is that it came to appear that the Nivelles youth judge Jean-Pierre Agneessens overseeing the custody case was supplying a number of minors to the “partouzes”. Through 1979, Montaricourt and Fortunato would be swiftly investigated and Jean Depretre essentially ran the coverup of both scandals. Lydia made statements about blackmail, which Maud Sarr claimed was in possession of the lawyer Guy Francois. Depretre provoked exaggerated attention to the Pinon file likely to stave attention away from Eurosystem-Fortunato-Montaricourt case. Miss Crockaert, found dead seemingly by suicide in late 1979, apparently co-organized Pink Ballets and claimed then-Prince Albert II attended when minors were present. Louvigny, whom Pinon suspected had ulterior motives later on, helped Pinon record confessions of his wife. At least two burglaries took place to steal copies of the recording. When information from Knack regarding “Tuna” came out, Khashoggi was there to warn Vanden Boeynants about coming tough questions from the press. Also, in 1979, gendarmes began reporting on corruption within the NBD.
• February 1979: While giving birth at 12-years-old in the hotel-villa of Madam Cecile Beernaert in Knokke, X1 was sadistically tortured and abused by Vanden Boeynants, the Lippens brothers, de Bonvoisin and Vander Elst, as well as the local police commissioner.
• 1979: Things started to change for the sniffer planes deal after Guillaumat was succeeded as Elf president by Albin Chalandon, who was initially supportive of the project, but was forced to admit that there had not been a single usable result. In May 1979, Chalandon arranged for Jules Horowitz to visit the lab and examine “Omega.” Instead of examining the device, Horowitz started asking questions about Omega’s capabilities to detect various common objects through a wall. Following two failures, Bonassoli claimed it would easily detect a ruler. Upon doing so, Horowitz had bent the ruler into an L shape, yet Omega only came out with a straight line. Despite this, work continued, but in June a further demonstration revealed the hoax, when it was shown that Omega had been outputting graphics projected within the box and contained a photocopier. Bonassoli attempted to deflect all criticism by stating that the entire secret of the device was one key component, which was locked in a box that he refused to open. But it was too late, Elf realized they had been fooled. Elf never finished the payments, but spent over 150 million in total. Bonassoli successfully returned to Italy and the French government did little to address the problem. At the time Raymond Barre was still Prime Minister until 1981. After the exposures that would come in 1984, Barre would be accused of involvement in the coverup.
• 1979: Time of considerable upheaval for the “Cercle complex.” In February 1979, Violet’s close associate Reverend Dubois died. About five months later in July another close associate of Violet, Florimond Damman, died of an apoplexy at the height of his career. Internal conflicts in the MAUE had been occurred, especially when in August 1979 Baron Adelin de Yperzele de Strihou resigned from his post as MAUE Honorary President, having said that the “MAUE had been politically infiltrated.” Furthermore, with Franc’s audit of quasi-public corporations by the Cour des Comptes, in 1979 the magistrate in charge of Elf’s audit, François Giquel, asked about the sudden change in certain accounts. These had contained only small amounts of money for many years, around 3 million Francs, and then suddenly grew to hundreds of millions of Francs over the last three years. The President personally informed Giquel that it was a matter of military secret, and he was sworn to secrecy. Before retirement, Chief Government Accountant Bernard Beck would discreetly shred three copies of the sniffer planes report in 1982. However, Barre and Giscard were known to have kept copies into their private lives.
• January 1980: In Belgium, Gen. Leon Francois was arrested by chief NBD investigators Major Herman Vernaillen and BOB adjutant Guy Goffinon, after which all hell broke loose. At some point, in 1980, a certain CEPIC-businessman Leon Finne provided a list of names of individuals trying to destabilize the Belgian state to Vernaillen. By August, 1980, Lydia Montaricourt would have been free to go and Israel would be working for ASCO of Boas.
• March 1980: Bougerol’s secretary Marie Therese Legon moved her job to EIM. Rene Mayerus said to have recruited Bougerol into EIM.
• 1980-1981: Inspired by the avant-garde of New York nightlife at places as Studio 54 (where Roy Cohn held sex parties, brought Trump and was the lawyer of the owner) and Le Club, Aldo Gigli and Paul Sterck arrived at the old Cine Mirano, where they formed a team, transformed the hall into a discotheque theme and opened Mirano Continental in 1981.
• March 13, 1981: Having investigated the drug trafficking charges against NBD since 1980, against the will of his superiors, Gendarme IT specialist Luc van den Daele stated to colleagues that he knew the names of those involved. At some point after that, he was shot to death in his own neighborhood and his file cabinet had been broken into and all his files had been stolen. Despite Van den Daele’s death having been ruled a suicide, no investigation was ever done and colleagues claimed that he was murdered. Also in March 1981, Latinus given permission from FJ head Dossogne to form the WNP, apparently a culmination of Group G.
• March 30, 1981: Alongside private security and security advise, antiterrorism was added to Legon’s trade activities.
• May 19, 1981: Surete report leaked by De Morgan, precipitated end of public career of de Bonvoisin and also forced CEPIC into closure. Bitter and longstanding fight between de Bonvoisn and his allies with State Security official Albert Raes. De Bonvoisin is now called Zwarte Baron, Baron Noir, or Black Baron.
• June 1981: Legon became security advisor at EIM.
• July 5, 1981: Pour magazine headquarters burnt down by FJ and VMO, because of exposures made of FJ, but also maybe more specifically editor-in-chief Jean-Claude Garot’s intention to publish about the the marriage scandal of Dr. Andre Pinon and the confessions made by his wife and Christine Doret. After the fire, the Pinon affair really blew up.
• July 15, 1981: In a hearing of Dr. Pinon, he recounted the testimony of Doret, although she denied everything. Pinon mentioned that Doret had talked about a certain Tania, as we now know Fortunato “Tuna” Israel. Eventually a search was done at Dr. Bettens and Mathot and VdB’s names were not on a guest list as stated by Doret, so this pathed the way for Depretre to put an end to the Pinon file.
• August 7, 1981: Douglas MacArthur II comes in as head of the EIM, which had taken over PIO operations and would in theory be in direct control of Paul Latinus of WNP.
• August 1981: Since the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the ASCO factory of Roger Boas and Vanden Boeynants had been active in the Nebula of Felix Przedborski. It is around this time that Regina Louf underwent extremely sadistic torture and abuse at the ASCO factory, horrendously culminating in the murder of a girl of around 2.5 years, who could have been Cheyenne born in February 1979. The perpetrators involved Tony V., Nihoul, Bouty and two Gendarmes, apparently as well as a cameraman.
• September 16, 1981: Grey Mazda 626 stolen in Brussels and later used in Vernaillen attack on October 26. The car was owned by the Syrian Faez al Ajjaz.
• Around 11pm, October 9-10, 1981: Gendarmerie in Brussels received anonymous phone call, referring to a drug case “that will probably interest adjutant Guy Goffinon.” As Goffinon was not present, three other BOB’ers enter the Peugeot of Goffinon to go to the spot. However, the informant never arrived there, to the BOB’ers return. The next day, the car trunk exploded near the Gendarme barracks, while the three gendarmes were out of harm’s way. It turned out that the explosive on partially set off. Jean-Francois Buslik of the DEA would become a primary suspect along with Bouhouche.
• October 14, 1981: Goffinon, Vernaillen and another official received anonymous death threats.
• October 26, 1981: At the home of Vernaillen, the doorbell rang, to which he went to open the door. The house is sprayed down by a volley of shots, involving at least three weapons, two carbines from which 9,222 Remington bullets were fired and a 9mm pistol. Car used was Grey Mazda 626 stolen on September 16.
• October 27, 1981: The grey Mazda used on the attack was found in the garage of the UCL campus. Inside the car was found a bullet casing of the brand Sako, calibre 222 Remington, rare ammunition from the Diane Group. There apparently was also a suitcase in which the same adhesive tape used to fasten the bomb on Goffinon’s car was found. The license plates had been removed, as well as the the fire extinguisher and pepper, the car radio and a hole was in the roof, just as in Diane Group cars where antenna go through. A few weeks before the attack an on-board radio had been stolen from the Diane Group. According to Martial Lekeu, Group G was responsible for the assassination attempts and would later inform the Wavre Gendarmerie.
• November 1981: Goffinon advised the Belgian Justice department to arrest Vanden Boeynants on drug trafficking charges, but nothing was done. In mid-November, VdB contacted General Fernand Beaurir to inquire about the drug trafficking investigation.
• November 20-23, 1981: Meeting at Abbaye de Royaumont of Europa Christiana, with important individuals present.

The Gang of Nijvel (1981-1986)

1981-1982:

• Night, December 31, 1981-January 1, 1982: Major burglary at Diane Group Gendarmerie barracks in Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium, by unknown perpetrators. Important automatic weapons, ammunition and a car were successfully stolen. Some of these items would later allegedly be found in a garage of Bouhouche, and it has been said by Martial Lekeu that Group G was involved. Although it has not been proven that any of these items were used in the Gang of Nijvel, it is suspected that there are ties to the Bende. The stolen items includes: 10 Heckler and Koch machines guns with silencer, 5 without; 5 automatic riot guns; 5 Fal machine guns of various models; 2 pistols of large caliber made for warning shots; 28 boxes with 25 cartridge each, about 2,500 pieces.
• February 18, 1982: Gruesome double murder of Alphonse Vandermeulen and Francesca Arcoulin committed by WNP members. Marcel Barbier was convicted largely based on his own confessions, which implicated Eric Lammers, but which he later denied. Based on confessions of Christina Elkinoff (former OAS and WNP), he had committed the murders with two other WNP members present and Paul Latinus had ordered Barbier to confess. Elkinoff spoke of the CCC bombings (1983-1986) and would as usual put blame of State Security.
• Afternoon Saturday, March 13, 1982: Unknown car parked on Place Collard in Dinant, from where at least two mysterious men head to the busy shopping street Rue Adolph Sax, toward the Bayard arms dealer of Joseph Cattai, at no. 57-59. Upon entrance of the two thieves, a bell rang out, to which Cattai then spotted two shadowy figures, one with a 10-gauge FAUL shotgun (No. 4227, manufactured by Centaure and bought from them by Cattai in Liege; mainly used for duck hunting in the swamps of Sologne, central France; needed work on wooden flask, but Cattai displayed it anyway because it was rare in Belgium; believed to have been used on September 30, 1982, at Dekaise amory robbery in Wavre) stolen from the display rack. They had apparently also stolen at least one box of rather rare 10 Rottweill shotgun cartridges, which was later found with the plastic wrapped cut-up shotgun at Ronguieres canal, Charleroi, on November 6, 1986, with a handwritten inscription of 3,25 on it. A witness spotted two men fleeing the scene. Allegedly at least one of the two perpetrators wore a hunter’s hat. They were said to have driven their car southwest toward the French border. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: between 20-30 years, very tall, or mediocre height, and thin, possibly blonde hair.; Perpetrator 2: older age, possibly 50s, sizable but smaller than P1, greying;
• 10:20 pm, Monday-Tuesday, May 10-11, 1982: Around 10:20pm, Mr. N.L. went to park his Austin Allegro (metallic grey hue; in bad shape; almost empty gas tank) in a garage on Avenue d’Italie, no. 32., Ixelles. All of a sudden, two French speaking men came to seize the car at gunpoint, suspected to have both had long-barreled revolvers. With the car they head toward Watermael-Boitsfort, probably eventually making it to Lambeek, Halle. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: tall (1.80m/5.6ft), thin, black hair and a mustache, also wore a cap; Perpetrator 2: smaller, mustache, wavy hair and graying. This was one of two instances in which “the Killer” was seen without a mask. That same night, at a location on the “Bergensesteenweg”, Chaussee de Mons 706, in Saint-Veroon, Lembeek, Halle, apparently two perpetrators forced open the lock at the bottom of a glass window of a garage showroom owned by Brichau family, who were sleeping in an apartment above. Once inside the perpetrators stole a Volkswagen Santana (license plate DSN 237, registered in Huysmanslaan, near Ixelles theft of N.L.’s Allegro) which had the keys left on the dashboard. The Allegro was left in Lambeek, near this showroom garage. In the morning of May 11, the Brichaus awaken to find their VW Santana stolen.
• June 11-13, 1982: Baron de Bonvoisin attended Le Cercle in Wilbad Kreuth, Germany, together with other key players.
• 3:25 am, Saturday, August 14, 1982: Robbery took place at Piot grocery store, at Place des Nations no. 44, Nord 69, Maubeuge, France, close to Belgian border. The owners were away on vacation at the time. Only two perpetrators seen, but possibly a third getaway driver. P1 broke the glass door to enter the empty grocery store and would tear off phone wire. P2 was armed with a sawed-off rifle/shotgun. During the robbery, an anonymous witness called the police at 3:50 am. Three officers then set out from a nearby police station, two head along Lafayette square while a third took Rue Albert I. The latter spotted the perpetrators’ car (“large, dark-displacement car,” likely VW Santana stolen on May 10-11 from Brichau’s garage) and as the three officers closed in on the store, they were greeted with gunfire from two firearms. One police officer, 36-year-old Christian Delacourt was wounded by a bullet to the abdomen as he ducked behind a fountain, the second officer narrowly escaped three more shots, while the third officer a bit further away decided to open fire, but misfired. However, the perpetrators already managed to enter the escape car and leave, while an accomplice with a balaclava continued to fire shots at police. Apparently, the perpetrators fired caliber 7.65 cartidge, which were known to be used in Belgium crimes. The car went for the Croix-de-Mons intersection, then disappeared toward Belgium. The perpetrators managed to slip through Gendarme posted at the Belgian-French border, an area which they must have been familiar. A Commissioner Sonrier worked with regional police SRPJ of Lille and Belgian Gendarmerie. The SRPJ were able to find unidentified fingerprints, which Interpol failed to find a match in July 1987. Suspicions exist of a connection to northern France criminal circuit involved in arms trafficking, prostitution and drug trafficking. A Brussels prostitute once claimed the March 1983 crime was carried out by crooks from northern France. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: nothing identifiable; Perpetrator 2: large, strong build, face hidden under a “mountain pass with small visor” and armed with sawed-off rifle/shotgun, possibly one with “balaclava” firing shots from back of vehicle. Perpetrator 3: suspected to have been getaway driver.
• Around 10:25-10:50 am, Thursday, September 30, 1982: Three perpetrators arrive in a VW Santana stolen on May 10, at the armory of Daniel Dekaise, wellknown among police forces and even terrorists, on Chaussee de Bruxelles no. 32, Wavre. Two customers were forced to lie on the ground. The robbers weren’t interested in money, but the firearms and ammo, which they loaded into plastic bags and sport bags. Witnesses at the scene contacted the Wavre Gendarmerie. Police officer Claude Haulotte was driving in the area when he was alerted about the robbery by two witnesses. Before leaving the store, they notice a policeman approaching, alerted by the neighborhood. At some point, one of the three men put on a balaclava and shouted at Daniel Dekaise up close: “Lie down or you create …” then an accomplice whose face was partially uncovered interrupted “Come on, we’ll run off, we’ve got what we were looking for…” They hit the manager and customers with the butts of their guns, knocking Daniel unconscious, then made their departure. Officer Haulotte went to intervene, but he was immediately fired upon by the perpetrators, fatally hit in the head, becoming the first murder of the Gang. One of them apparently moved the police car and then made off in the Santana. The entire Gendarmerie of Wavre was on alert at this point, with some taking the road to Namur and others took the national road 4 toward Brussels, in an attempt to catch the gang. A state of alarm is declared in Walloon-Brabant and Brussels. An erroneous report came in that the gang was moving in an Audi 80. The Gang fled toward Brussels, but would by spotted heading toward Tombeek by BOB members Roland Campinne and Bernard Sartillot in an anonymous Gendarme Renault R4. The car drove smoothly down narrow streets in Overijse, which seemed to show that the drive or one of the occupants knew the area very well. The man in the backseat looked back at the R4 that followed them. The pursuit continued as far as Hoeilaart, whereupon entering they ran into a traffic jam going across the intersection of Biesmanslaan, with Koldamstraat. At this point it was around 10:50 am. The Gendarmes in the R4 managed to bloc the Gang in the Santana. Campinne then emptied his clip, but was hit four times by return fire, while Sartillot hid behind the R4 and also emptied his clip. As Sartillot realized he had no more ammo, he was blasted in the back by a shotgun of a perpetrator who had stepped out from the back of the Santana, to which he returned while it started to move, then drove toward Groenendaal as smoke escaped from the hood. According to witnesses, the front passenger was injured. The Santana was reportedly seen in Ixelles, Crown area and the Ixelles cemetery. The Santana was sprayed with gasoline and lit on fire. it was found along the Dreve des Tumuli, near chaussee de la Hulpe, just behind Cesar de Paepe hospital in Watermael-Boistu, dumped in Uccle, in the Sonian Forest. Around 10:30 pm, it had been discovered by a passerby and taken in for examination by police. However, the robbers made off with significant amount of loot: Without any interest in money, they stole multiple guns: Col Cal .45 type Government pistol nickel finish; Colt Cal.45 type Government pistol, blue finish; Smith and Wesson Cal revolver. 9 mm Type 547, 3″9 gun; Colt Cal.45 type Long Colt revolver, single action, 5″ barrel – yellowed blue finish; revolver brand Rüger Cal.45 ACP and 45, type Long Colt, barrel 7 1/2″ – single action; Smith and Wesson type 559 pistol, Cal. 9 mm, blue-black steel finish; revolver brand Rüger Cal.357, .38 and 9 mm, barrel 5 “, simple action (this weapon was found in the waters of the canal in RONQUIERES); Rüger Cal.44 Magnum revolver type Redhawk, Stainless finish – 7 1/2″ barrel; Bernardelli Cal pistol. 7.65 mm, USA type, blue-black finish; Ingram M10 Cal submachine gun. 9 mm para; Ingram M10 Cal submachine gun. 9 mm short; Submachine Gun Beretta Cal 9 mm para No. F13122; pistol brand FN Cal.22 LR type Concours 150; Smith and Wesson Cal.357 revolver, 4″ barrel, blue finish; Smith and Wesson Cal.357 and .38 revolver, type 38 – type 19 – 6”- blue finish; Two demilitarized Enfield Cal.380 revolvers, without number; Schmeisser machine gun type MP40 out of use. They also stole: magazine of 32 Cal cartridges. 9 mm submachine gun, brand FN – type Beretta; magazine of 32 Cal cartridges. 9 mm Walther brand submachine gun; two magazines of 32 Cal cartridges. 45 ingram brand submachine gun; magazine of 32 Cal cartridges. 9 mm MP 40. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: 1m75/1m80, 35 years-old, medium build (about 70 Kgs), brown hair/short dark brown hair with strip, and mustache. Perpetrator 2: 1m75/1m80, 30-35 years-old, medium build, black hair, thick eyebrows and mustache, apparently more “Southern appearance; almost effeminate.” Robot photo made. Perpetrator 3: 1m70, 40 years-old, or 20-25 years-old, stocky, strong build, light brown hair/curly black hair arriving at collar, potential foreign type of North African gender. This P3 is reminiscent of previous descriptions of P2s. Many years later, Jean Bultot would claim Bruno Vandeuren was one of the Gang members and had transported the weapons to a garage linked to Bouhouche. Vandeuren was murdered before he could testify sometime in 1995. The French Xavier and Thierry Sliman have been suspected. Sometime after the discovery of the Santana in 1982, the copied license plate DSN.237, cut up exactly into 23 pieces, was found, along with torn pieces of paper with written inscriptions: Comte, Wauthier-Braine, Sart… lez, 74, ANU.75, Pillory with in bold “gendarmerie next door”.
• October 5, 1982: At a funeral held for police officer Haulotte, which was attended by several thousand policemen, Public Prosecutor Jean Depretre of Nivelles said that “it is important that Walloon Brabant does not become the territory of massacres …”
• 6pm, Wednesday, December 22 – 9:30 am, Thursday, December 23, 1982: Presumably on this night, in the Het Kasteel Inn of Jef Jurion, in Beersel, the 70-year-old Taxi driver Jose Vanden Eynde was tied up on a bed with his arms crosswise, tortured with cigarette burns on the chest, a washcloth stuffed in his mouth and murdered with 5 or 8 shots of calibre 22 bullets. Suspected to have happened between 2-4 am. The killers then feasted on a cake, a dear bolt and some champagne bottles. They stole about fifteen “signs of the Royal Swabap band.”

1983:

• January 8-12, 1983: On Jan. 8, Brussels Taxi driver Constantin Angelous in a black Mercedes 220 with plate BEY 586 believed to have picked up customers around 1:25 am, headed for Eugene Flageyplain, Ixelles, to Chausse de Mons, near Ceria, where witnesses saw a taxi driver being attacked. At some point, possibly near Place Flagey, likely while at the wheel Angelous was shot four times in the back of the neck and possible the head, with a 22 caliber pistol. Supposedly, the perpetrators appeared to have then planned to stay in the Borinage, since no other car was stolen. Angelous was dragged and placed in the trunk, and witnesses saw the taxi that night, before it was left on rue Terre du Prince, Bergen, Mons. The perpetrator(s) stole a letter bag, several tens of thousands of francs, identity papers and a category B driver’s license number C458322. The taxi sign was removed and placed in the back seat. Reportedly, Angelous worked for the same taxi company Vanden Eynde had previously worked for, but both homicide investigations were handled separately. Judicial Police of Brussels found out about the missing taxi on January 10. Two days later the taxi and Angelous body were found.
• Around 8:50 om, Friday, January 28, 1983: An armed theft by two perpetrators of a Peugeot 504, license D705F, of Raymond Dewee at gunpoint, as well as his identity papers and driver’s license. Gun(s) used had wooden handled which is suspected to have resembled a Russian Kalashnikov. Michel Cocu made out to be a suspect.
• 7:10 pm, Friday, February 11, 1983: Around 7pm, a female manager of a DI store adjacent to the Delhaize at Avenue Albert no. 13, Rixensart (Genval) was threatened with a weapon by a man who followed her into the latter store. He heads to the upstairs office where the employees are made to grab the money and then lie on the floor. The perpetrators fire shots into the ceiling, while an accomplice takes the money in plastic bags. Meanwhile, a third perpetrator threatens the store manger and customers. A computer was struck by a bullet, wires of a phone were pulled out. The three of them then leave the Delhaize with 692,384 Belgian francs (about 17,163.75 euros). Upon exiting, one man used his gun to deal with anyone in the parking lot. He shot several times at an Audi 100 to the driver Jacques Cultot would duck, as he had attempted to block the robber’s Peugeot. The three perpetrators then left in the Peugeot 504. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: 1m85, mountain pass or biker hood of brown, green or dark grey hue; Perpetrator 2: Smaller than P1, frizzy black hair, wore a mask; Perpetrator 3: 1m85, around 40 years old, beefy, frizzy hair, dark complexion, wore a mask; Other details: Masks type “big nose with glasses” – smiling mask with big cheeks, carnival masks; allegedly a fourth perpetrator was involved; reportedly armed with riot guns and at least one pistol caliber 38; Various witnesses describe the perpetrators as North Africans of about 1m75 in size, French-speaking with Arabic tongue, wearing glasses with turtle frame and an afro-style hairstyle.
• Around 7:20 pm, Monday, February 14-15, 1983: On Avenue de Versailles no. 8, Plancenoit (Lasne), Mrs. Genevieve Van Lidth de Jeugd returned home on Valentine’s Day. She then noticed a Peugeot 504 following her. A passenger exited the Peugeot and pulled a black balaclava over his head and got out a gun, apparently a revolver. The perpetrator stuck the gun to her stomach, warned her to cooperate, then stole her new Volkswagon Golf Rabbit (dark gray “anthracite” metallic hue, four door plus trunk, sunroof, tinted and registered DTX 079) and followed the Peugeot, which was found burnt out the following day in Waterloo. The perpetrators had removed the stereo, a car radio of Blapunkt – model Frankfurt – the dashboard movement and the lighter. Cigarette butts from the brand Johnson or Gauloises were found. The Peugeot is said to have traveled to more than 100 kilometers since it was stolen. Description: Perpetrator 1: 1.80m, 30-40 years old, athletic, not big, black hair corolla, strong curly, drus and quite short hair, not dark complexion, possibly of southern origin, impeccable French, impression of a cultured man, likely familiar with the VW Golf model.
• Around 4:00am, Tuesday, February 22, 1983: Since February 14, the Audi 100 of Cultot, registered DKC 329, was stored in the VAG garage for repairs from being shot by the Gang in a Delahize parking lot, on February 11. At the time it was waiting to be appraised. With the key left in the ignition, robbers managed to enter, move an Audio Quatro blocking the Audi 100, then make off with the latter. The alarm rang at 4:00 am.
• Around 7:20pm, Friday, February 25, 1983: Two men with balaclavas exit from a car, apparently a VW Golf, and enter a Delhaize market at Chausse de Waterloo no. 1363, Uccle. One of them carried two firearms, with which he threatened staff and customers. The accomplice was armed with a “truncheon” and went to the management office, where he attempted to get a cashier to open the trunk of cash, although the cashier did not have the key. He fired a shot destroying a phone, then another staff member with the key came. The money was taken in a plastic bag, totaling around 600,000 Belgian francs (around 14,874 euros). One of them fired a shot at the shelves, then they made their exit. Outside a witness went to the nearest gas station for help, but was pursued and shot in the knee. A first shot was intended for a pump attendant, but it missed, recached and hit a ceiling. The two perpetrators boarded their vehicle, apparently a black or grey VW Golf, assumed to have been three-door, but likely four and in which a driver was a apparently waiting, who then headed in a direction toward Waterloo. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: 1m90, strong build/athletic, dark brown eyes, dark brown complexion, which was possibly from some kind of paint, Khaki hood/vest, spoke French; Perpetrator 2: 1m90, dressed in a beige turtleneck sweater, which covered half his face, wore khaki-colored rubber boots, dark brown hair, apparently tried to mimic an Arabic tongue, apparently had a baton; reportedly used caliber .38.
• Around 7:30 pm, Thursday, March 3, 1983: Three individuals enter a Colruyt department store at Chaussee d’Enghien no. 300, in Halle. One armed with a short-barreled rifle, who stood at the entrance and ordered employees and others to lie on the floor. He shot into the butchery panel, while the two other accomplices rushed upstairs to the offices. The manager Walter Verstappen followed them and gave them all the money in the trunk, some 1,182,115 Belgian francs/ about 29,304 euros. The other accomplice in the office struck an employee, Jules Knockaert, in the head for taking a look. The manager Verstappen was shot in the head/neck area, from which he eventually died in a hospital in Etterbeek. The three perpetrators then made off with the money and entered their getaway car, a dark VW Golf, headed for Brussels. While escaping in the car, shots were fired at employees from the front-tight passenger window. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1 (P3 above?): man about 1m78-1m80, average but athletic physique, dark colored hands and blue eyes.; Perpetrator 2 (P2 above?): same size as P1, dark skin color; Perpetrator 3 (P1 above?): other witnesses, large person, probably 1m85, dressed in a worn, gray-blue raincoat, dark gray pants and black shoes, hid his face under a black balaclava, bordered in lighter color, probably yellow; skin visible around P3’s eyes was smeared with a dark paint, like makeup used by commandos in night exercises; Perpetrator 4?: possibly, driver of the Golf, wore black balaclava; One of the three inside described as smaller, between 1m70-1m75, with a dark balaclava and a long dark raincoat. Witnesses described an individual (P3^?) of average physique, armed with a shotgun and dressed in an ochre-colored raincoat.; The investigation of this robbery was initially handed to Brussels magistrate Mahiue, but ended up in the Nivelles cabinet of investigation judge Guy Wezel. Ballistics report was done by “Commander Derry.”
• Around 11:00 am, Thursday, March 3, 1983: Discovery of the Audio 100, shot at during robbery on February 11 and stolen from the VAG garage on February 22, in Ixelles, rue Lesbroussart opposite building No. 52. This was near the place where taxi driver Constantin was murdered.
• Saturday, May 7, 1983: Armed robbery of a supermarket in Houdemg-Gougnies, in which the equivalent of less than $22,000 was stolen, with no deaths. No further details about this alleged crime.
• Around 1:00 / 3-4 am, Wednesday, June 8, 1983: Seemingly a number of men (likely 2-3), approach the Denuit garage of Michel Jadot, at Chaussee d’Ophain no. 178, Brain-l’Alleud. Outside they executed a German Sheperd dog, with no-less than 11 bullets, which did not immediately kill it. Reportedly, the same bullets found in the dog, were also used in the murder of Vanden Eynde on December 22, 1982, and the taxi driver Constantine on January 8, 1983. One of them entered through the roof and opened a door to let in his accomplice(s). They attempted to force open a door to an office, but in vain. They then broke a window to access the office, where the keys were stored. They moved other cars to make way for the Saab 900 Turbo, dark gray tint.
• Thursday, June 9, 1983: The VW Golf, last used on March 3 robbery of Colruyt, was found in Bois d’Hourpes, rue des Bonniers. It was devoid of any interior equipment, such as seats, steering wheel, battery, headlights, stereo, loudspeakers, back seat, etc. The odometer indicated only 270 km. Also the bende had apparently closed hole from bullet impacts.
• Around 2:30 am, September 10, 1983: A number of thugs arrived in a car, suspected to have been a Saab Turbo, at Gasthuisstraat no. 108, Temse, from where they walked to the SA Wittock-Van Landeghem spinning mill. While searching the place, they murdered the concierge Joseph Broeder who had noticed their presence and seriously wounded his wife Linda Huffelen, who had been sleeping in bed. Their 2.5 year-old daughter was also there and got out of bed to look around, however, the killer(s) placed her in the wrong direction back into bed. While the gang managed to get what they obviously came for, some of the neighbors nearby heard the shots fired. While the thugs exited, they noticed some of the awakened neighbors taking a look, at whom they fired shots. They board they car, likely the Saab Turbo, with their loot: 7 secret-prototype bulletproof vests, a smoke-colored jacket and camouflage overalls. In the Saab, they head off in the direction of Temse. Descriptions: Reportedly, one of them wore a hunter’s hat and they may have had some sort of masks; Two strangers who may be linked to the facts: Perpetrator 1: strong build, 1m75; Perpetrator 2: large, 1m90;
• Around 1:25 am, Saturday, September 17, 1983: At a Colruyt petrol station and market, on Chausse de Bruxelles no. 170, Nivelles, a couple in a white Mercedes car arrive on a trip from Paris to get gas. Meanwhile, one or more individuals were robbing the store, using a torch to break in from the back. At 1:26 am the store alarm went off. Around 1:30 am Gendarmes arrived on the scene, but were immediately greeted with gunfire from multiple calibers, killing one and injuring the second. The Gang took their service weapons, but the second officer, still alive, managed to call for reinforcements. Upon arrival, the gendarmes found their companions, but also two other deceased bodies behind shopping carts. Those two were the owners of the Mercedes, Elise Dewit and Jacques Fourez, both 49-years-old and shot multiple times. It appeared that Dewit, at some point, ran toward Fourez, but was dragged inside the store and shot several times in the head. It is likely that they were murdered before the arrival of the initial two gendarmes. The Gang escaped in the Saab Turbo and Mercedes, with 40 packs of Maragogype coffee of 500 gr, 10 packs of Maragogype coffee of 2.5 Kgs, 5 cans of corn oil of 5 liters, 5 cans of peanut oil of 5 liters and Pralines (five boxes of chocolates?). Valuable jewelry on Dewit and Fourez were left. Reportedly, the couple Dewit and Fourez were associated with the then-disbanded CEPIC and had been in possession of a certain video tap, which the Gang stole supposedly from the trunk of their Mercedes. The Gang fired a 9 mm shot, another from a 357 Magnum, seven shots with a Colt 45 and eight discharges from a riot gun. Twenty-four projectiles are found in the body of guard master Marcel Morue. The ground was littered with dozens of cartridge casings and bullets, hunting hail and projectiles of caliber .22, .45 and 7.65 mm and of caliber 357 Magnum. Police also found a cotton hat at the scene, but no hairs were recovered. Around 1:44 am, a firefight broke out with police and two cars (Mercedes and Saab) headed toward Waterloo at the Diable Amoureaux, on Chaussee de Nivelles, Braine-l’Alleud. The two cars were on opposite sides of the road as the police car passed. The driver of the Mercedes fired a shotgun at the windshield and then at least one gunman in the Saab fired at the back of the car. The driver of the Mercedes then rushed to the Saab leaving the Mercedes, then they headed for Nivelles. Allegedly, a certain pimp who worked for Sabene, “Paul L.”, was present in an undercover cop car, but was never shot at. The Saab was later found that day abandoned not far from the Jadot garage, or the Delhaize that would be robbed in 1985. Description: From injured officer Lacroix: Perpetrator 1: 1m80, average physique, dressed in three-quarters raincoat and with a “ringbeard.”
• Around 1:05 am, Sunday, October 2, 1983: The owner of Les Trois Canards, Jacques Van Camp, at Rue de la Marache no. 51, left with two employees to take them home in his daughter’s VW Golf GTI. An individual was hiding against the wall of the restaurant and intercepts them, taking the two employees back inside with him, while a second individual kept Van Camp outside. The man inside forces the closing staff onto the floor with a handgun, when a cook hesitated a shot was fired into the kitchen fridge. He wanted to get the keys to Van Camp’s Porsche and an Alfa Romeo of one of the waiters, but was unsuccessful with the former., The two perpetrators exchanged verbally, apparently in a foreign language that resembled Arabic and not European. As soon as they left, Van Camp was fatally in the head/neck and they shot out one tire of three cars. Another account goes that Van Camp was forced outside then executed. Nevertheless, they left in the red VW Golf. 7.65 mm bullets were used, apparently came from same gun stolen from servicemen at Colruyt. No descriptions appear to be available other than the following information: The two perpetrators allegedly had carnival masks and one of them had “army shoes.” A number have suspects have been people from the Philippe De Staerke gang who allegedly attempted to steal the Porsche in January 1983. Another suspect was Mohammed El Bourajradji, who had worked as a gardener in Waterloo, was arrested in the Netherlands in 1987 and extradited to Belgium the following year, but claimed to not have been in Belgium at the time of the murder. Allegedly a criminal from the Haemeres gang, Kapllan Murat made confessions of the murder. Another curious fact is the number of prominent individuals who reportedly attended the restaurant. Van Camp was reportedly former CEPIC member and was in contact with the couple Dewit and Fourez, all of whom allegedly were involved in the “Pink Ballets.” Van Camp reportedly was a friend of Jeff Jurion, who owned Het Kasteel where Vanden Eynde was brutally murdered in 1982. Van Camp’s wife allegedly worked at the Temse factory as well. No money appears to have been stolen.
• Around 7:50 pm, Friday, October 7, 1983: Three individuals exit a parked VW Golf, painted black because it was the red Golf stolen from Van Camp’s daughter, and apparently with a new license plate. They were headed for the Delhaize supermarket on Chaussee d’Uccle in Beersel. On their way in, one of them captured an employee hostage with a gun to his neck. At the first crate, they force the hostage on the ground, when the manager rushed over to plead for them to let him go, but the manager was fatally shot in the jaw and another employee was injured. The one with the hostage remained at the front, while the other two rushed to the office, where they stuffed the money in plastic bags, totally some 1,200,000 francs (29,747 euros). The two then join the third, who grabs the hostages and headed out the exit. The hostage was dropped as soon as they got to the getaway car. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: 1m90, very lean and extremely fine build; birthmark in the nape of the neck (2.5cm wide and 3.5-5 cm high; dressed in a long light brown raincoat and brown cigarette pants; wore a mask and a belt with hunting cartridges; spoke French; Perpetrator 2: 1m90; dressed in raincoat identical to P2, but dark gray or black; wore a mask and armed with a long-handled axe; Perpetrator 3: 1m75; beefy and slightly vaulted; was dressed in blue pants with elephant legs, had tattoo on forearm; seemed a little older than P1 and P2
• Around 6:30-7:00pm, Thursday, December 1, 1983: Three men exist a black VW Golf, then enter the jewelry store of Jean Szymusik, on Rue de la Station No. 80, Anderleus. His family family lived above the store and was present. Jean’s wife Marie got up to greet the three intruders, whom she must have thought were customers, but where headed straight for the living room. Marie made it several meters before she was fired upon, hit in the legs and chest, then executed with three shots to the head. Jean heard these shots and grabbed his revolver to defend his family. One of their daughters also came down to stairs to peak at what was happening, when she saw her father with a revolver standing near the kitchen and a man lying on the ground of the kitchen who shouted “Shoot, shoot …,” then a man armed with a long barreled handgun. A shootout ensued after the daughter ran upstairs. The perpetrators then gathered their loot, after they murdered Jean. They stole many jewels and watches for a value up to 140,000 francs (3,470 euros). They also stole Jean’s Arminius 38 Sp caliber revolver 2.5 barrel, which has never been found. The perpetrators exited and left in the Golf. Around 7pm, the VW Golf GTI was found burned out in a firebreak path of Bois d’Hourpes. Descriptions: Perpetrator 1: Age around 40, 1m70, strong without being corpulent; wide body; round face; correct clothing; Perpetrator 2: Same as P1, but had “favorites going down to earlobes; Perpetrator 3: a littler taller than the other two, around 1m80, seemed a little younger and less strong, dressed in a hunter-like coat; Additional info: one perpetrator allegedly had a hunter hat, did not have gloves or masks and they spoke French; one of them was wearing a “leather vest” and had “short shaved blond hair”; they took out surveillance cameras; apparently Jean had gotten a gun because his store was robbed not long before; his brother Marius claimed that Jean was abnormally nervous and restless the night before. The number plates attached to the Gulf had been copied to those of a Golf of a resident of the rue du Mail in Ixelles, another customer of the concessionaire in Waterloo. A curious coincidence, it is this garage of D’Ieteren that had sold to Mrs. Geneviève Van Lidth the VW Golf Rabbit that would later be stolen in Plancenoit on February 14, 1983. It is also in this garage in Waterloo that the Audi 100 of Mr. Jacques Culot was stolen, the car that came under fire by the murderers in the parking lot of the Delhaize in Genval.; In the jewelry store, an abundance of bullets is found that were fired by two weapons that were used on 16 September in the Colruyt in Nivelles, a Colt 45 and a 7.65 mm pistol. ; As if these were not yet sufficient, the police also note that the gangsters have equipped the Golf GTI with a deflector of exactly the same model as the one that the killers had applied to the VW Santana that was used in September 1982 in the hold-up at the arms dealer dekaise in Wavre. ; At this point, after competition flaring up again between police forces, the investigation was centralized in Nivelles;

1983-1985: Intermediary period

• End 1983 – Late 1985: The Gang of Nijvel disappeared into the night after the jewelry store robbery in Anderleus, and would seemingly remain inactive for nearly two years. Before their reemergence, the police had been attempting to pin the crimes on the Boraines, in no small part via Nivelles prosecutor Jean Depretre.
• April 24, 1984: Death of WNP head Paul Latinus, suspiciously by suicide hanging.
• January 2, 1984: New Prime Minister of France Pierre Mauroy released the sniffer planes report and sarcastically accused Valer Giscard d’Estaing and Raymond Barre of attempting to cover it up, just as Francois Mitterrand did in late 1983.
• January 1984: Aldo Bonassoli reappeared in Italy, holding a conference where he claimed that he would hand over all data on his machine to the CNR and stated that the Soviets had expressed interest in it. When asked about the claims of fraud, he claimed the machine had been greatly improved since then. However, nothing came out of this announcement.
• July 1984: Pierre Pean released his book ‘V…’, which caused a major scandal, in part by revealing the sniffer planes scandal to a wider audience. He had earlier revealed information about it in June and December of 1983.
• October 1984 – December 1985: Extreme left-wing militant Cellules Communistes Combattantes (CCC) committed fourteen attacks.
• April 14, 1985: Jean-Jacques B. died of an overdose inside Le Mirano, sparking a major drug investigation, which also revealed a clandestine child abuse and blackmail ring which was covered up by the judge herself.
• August 11, 1985: A certain Jules Montel was murdered before going to testify as an informant related to the Gang of Nijvel, before the suspicious Claude Leroy.
• August 15, 1985: A robbery occurred at “cash transport” of an amusement park in Walibi, Wavre, where the supervisor was murdered. This was supposedly suspected to have been carried out by the Gang, but somehow did not end up on an official list of Bende crimes by the Gendarmerie.

1985-1986: Final acts

• Saturday-Sunday night, September 21-22, 1985: Bende entered a car warehouse of d’Leteren company, swiftly bypassing security and moving two cars to steal a gray three-door VW Golf GTI.
• 8:10-8:15 pm, Friday, September 27, 1985: Three men exited a VW Golf parked near an Italian restaurant Da Pietro, next to a Delhaize supermarket on Rue de la Graignette no. 5, Brain-l’Alleud. A child was playing nearby, who was taken hostage by one of the men who pushed a barrel into his ribs. Three customers near the entrance were asked by the Gang to follow them inside the store, however, one of them was shot dead as the other two fled. After the Gang burst inside with the child hostage, the customers were made to lie down. One man who did not lie down “quick enough” was coldly shot. One employee emptied money from the cash register into paper, or plastic, bag. One accomplice stayed in the main area on the lookout, as two others entered the manager’s office, but the manager was unable to open the safe, se they settled for the money in the bag, up to 776,000 francs (around 19,236 euros). The three of them made their exit with the hostage. In the parking lot they noticed a van, which they shot 8 time, instantly killing the driving and injuring his son in the passenger seat. Once the Gang was close to their getaway vehicle, they released the child. Description: Perpetrator 1: 1m80/1m90, normal build, athletic, broad shoulders, wore full mask depicting old man, went inside manager’s office; Perpetrator 2: 1m80/1m90, normal build, wore black wool balaclava revealing eyes and mouth and a green safari hat, held the hostage; Perpetrator 3: 1m70/1m80, thin body according to some, strong build according to others, dressed in black, wore carnival mask depicting man’s face, wore dark hat and remained at entrance.

• Around 8:35 pm, Friday, September 27, 1985: About twenty minutes after the Delhaize robbery in Brain-l’Alleud, another then took place at a Delhaize on Chausse de Bruxelles no. 399, in Overijse. A car, presumably the VW Golf parked in a nearby parking lot. Three men existed and walked in a line along some bushes. Three children were playing on bikes in the parking lot, whom the Gang asked to get off the bicycles. Two of the children escaped, but tragically one of them was shot dead by a riot gun at close range. Looking for a hostage, one of the perpetrators designed one person as they entered and then ordered customers to lie down. One of the shoots at crates, which injured several people, while another one walked toward the office. The third perpetrator remained in the main area with the hostage. They also took money from several crates on their way out with the hostage, totally 2,511,103 francs (about 62,249 euros). In the parking lot, a man driving a Peugeot 504 was shot at but managed to escape. Another man entering his Ford Sierra was fatally shot three times. The Gang’s hostage was murdered, then the entered their car and escaped, headed full speed toward Brussels. One of the men murdered on this date was Leon Finne. A number of curious reports came in about this particular raid, which may be discussed below. Description: Perpetrator 1: 40 years, 1m90 (or more), wore a mask representing old man; Perpetrator 2: 1m75/1m80, normal build, dressed in a long dark jacket, black or navy blue and dark pants, military shoes, wore black hat or cap; Perpetrator 3: 1m70/1m80, normal build, dark clothes, wore a mask.
• October 7, 1985: All investigations in the the Gang were reopened and centralized in Nivelles. Four days earlier, it had been acknowledged that the perpetrators were militant in behavior. By the end of October, two joggers reportedly encountered three persons by a Ford Taunus, one of whom was “very large,” at an athletic track in Osbroekpark, 1.5km from a Delhaize store, apparently in Aalst. Police were contacted but unable to identify them.
• November 2-9, 1985: On November 2 and November 9, various objects and documents were sprayed with gasoline and set on fire, in Brain-Le-Comte, Bois de la Houssiere, at a place called “My Idea.” On the second of Saturday, children reportedly playing behind the Aalst Delhaize store discovered loaded weapons and even fired a few shots before parents intervened. On November 7, at the “Supermarket customers see a man just in front of the entrance to the department store who had put his notebook on a pole and took notes while looking at the building. The man is in his thirties with a skipper’s cap.” On November 8, Jean Bultot reportedly called a Surete informant, with the question of whether he could urgently give them a machine gun. The informant recorded the call, but Bultot made the gun missing. Before November 9, several witnesses noticed a suspicious grey Mercedes with a Dutch license plates in and around Aalst.
• Around 7:40 pm, November 9, 1985: A WV Golf parked by the Delhaize on Parklaan no. 50, in Aalst. Three armed men exit the car and head for the entrance of the store, immediately firing on customers and vehicles in the parking lot. Upon entering, the three of them ordered everyone to lie down, but fired at people who continued to flee. The director was taken to the office, where they stole money. The director managed to escape while being shot at. Several police teams arrived on the scene. The one perpetrator on lookout fired at all the visible officers retaliating. Two accomplices head to the exit, when they shot at two children close to the entrance. The lookout left his post to head to the back of the parking lot. They put their loot (737,777 francs / 18,289 euros) into the trunk. With the lights on and the trunk open, the car was driven slowly to the exit, while the third perpetrator rushed into the back of the vehicle. They then left at full speed toward Ninove via an old road, as police fired at them. Additional info: one of those murdered on this date was Jan Palsterman, who was an associate of Finne. As many as eight people were murdered. A number of other details may be discussed later, leading up to the Aalst attack and following it. Description: not much in terms of overall details; the giant was there;
• 1:40 am, November 11, 1985: Around the time a burnt out VW Golf was found in woods of Bois de la Houssiere, in Braqin-Le-Comte. Detectives reportedly found a charred piece of paper, which supposedly had the handwriting Bultot’s wife Claudia Falkenburg, and also happened to be a fragment of a February 1984 speech given by Bultot at the practical shooting Triton Club. Around 1:40, witnesses reportedly saw people throw bags into the Large de Fauquez in Ronquieres. A witness claimed to have seen two men standing by VW Golf, in which a third remained.

1986-Present: Aftermath

• December 28, 1985: Ixelles police had a BMW 520 towed away from place Flagey. A few days later they contacted the apparent owner of the license plate FHV 715
• January 7, 1986: Juan Mendez was murdered, most likely by Madani Bouhouche.
• November 6, 1986: Back supposedly discovered by police at the canal “Large de Faucquez” in Ronquieres, in which were items connecting many facts of the Gang.
• July 1987: Interpol gets fingerprints taken from the crimes at Mauebege, France, in order to make comparisons in all five surrounding countries, which resulted in nothing.
• July 18, 1987: Andre Cools, who was linked to the Augusta affair, was murdered.
• 1989: Joris Vivelle’s son was murdered.
• October 24, 1990: Giulio Andreotti, Prime Minister of Italy, admitted the existence of NATO’s Operation Gladio.
• May 14, 1993: Patrick Haemers committed “suicide” while in jail.
• 1995?: Bruno Vandeuren, who Jean Bultot identified as one of the Gang members, was murdered before he could be questioned by Congressman Hugo Coveliers.
• January 12, 1995: Antwerp police found a Peugeot 309 in Euterpestraat in Berchem. The car had the license number FHV 715
• …

Suspects and their connections

Jean Bultot slope

The man suggested to have perhaps been “the most severely implicated” in the Gang of Nijvel affair was the fascist Jean Bultot. On November 8, 1985, the day before the Bende’s final strike at the Aalst Delhaize, Jean Bultot allegedly phoned up an informant of State Security, asking if he could either receive or give away a machine gun. Reportedly the one he called was a certain Elizabeth Bove, who was the husband of Antoine Delsaut and had dealt with certain persons involved with the CCC attacks. Things really get curious, following the discovery of the Bende’s getaway car used in Aalst, a VW Golf GTI, in November 10-11, where nearby documents had been burned. Detectives found vouchers from the Delhaize strike on September 27, ’85, as well as a piece of paper that was part of a conference given by Bultot and which reportedly had the handwriting of Bultot’s wife, Claudia Falkenburg. Other inconclusive evidence might have also belonged to Falkenburg. However, the speech given by Bultot took place in February 1984, during the intermediary period of the Bende when it was inactive, at the Triton club during a shooting competition he had organized. This event was patron-ed by Cecile Goor, secretary of state Pierre Mainil (both forner CEPIC members) and the Cultural Department of the US Embassy in Brussels. In the same month Bultot had given a demonstration to civil servants, police officers and intel. agents about the use of Kevlar in car doors, a tactic that happened to be used by the Bende.

Bultot was also involved in practical shooting clubs, organizing events as “warehouse panic.” As director of the Sint Gillis prison, Bultot would have came into contact with Philippe De Staerke, another Bende suspect. One member of the De Staerke gang, Leopold Van Esbroeck claimed Bultot tried to recruit him in early 1985 to join a unit that would commit “sham robberies” on department stores for payment to create an atmosphere of terror. Through the practical shooting clubs and apparently via nightclubs, Bultot came into contact with Madani Bouhouche, Robert Beijer, Juan Mendez and possibly Bob Louvigny. According to one source, Bultot was apparently involved in a plan of Bouhouche fir a long-term terror operation to extort a number of warehouses, together with Mendez, Beijer, Christian Amory and Rene Tchang Wei Ling. This source claimed someone had spotted Bultot, Bouhouche and Mendez together at a Spanish restaurant in Brussels called Villa Rosa, in 1985. Bouhouche and possibly Bultot might have been involved with an assignment to recruit Mendez into a clandestine organization. Bouhouche had attempted to recruit Beijer, but he refused. Curiously, Beijer would stay with Bultot in Paraguay after fleeing Belgium.

Another curious area around Bultot was the Pinon affair, which reportedly was linked to the Gang of Nijvel and “Pink Ballets.” Bultot’s wife mentioned above was discovered to have been in possession of Dr. Andre Pinon‘s telephone number in her address book. Dr. Pinon was at the center of the “Pinon affair,” in which his private detective Bob Louvigny of BDRI initially broke the scandal. The Pinon dossier would eventually be corrupted and used by the far-right against State Security (Surete). When Bultot started talking after fleeing to Paraguay following arrest of Bouhouche after the murder of Mendez, he claimed there was high-level involvement in the Gang of Nijvel affair and that there was a coverup. However, he pinned the guilt on Surete, a typical tactic of men as Baron de Bonvoisin and allies. Additionally, Bultot advised Freddy Troch to reopen to the Pinon dossier, in the context of the Gang of Nijvel investigation. Furthermore, Bultot claimed a certain Bruno Vandeuren was a member of the Gang of Nijvel and involved in the crimes of early 1983, however before he was to testify for Hugo Coveliers he was murdered, around 1995. This was curiously similar to case of Jules Montel, who was set to testify about the Bende for Claude Leroy, whose wife reportedly had dealings with Bultot.

Leroy happened to be a visitor of notorious Brussels nightclubs called Les Atrebates and its predecessor The Dolo, places where Jean-Michel Nihoul frequented. According to X2, Leroy was present at events in The Dolo and he was a client of a mysterious-nefarious castle in Eidenhoven, Netherlands, alongside Baron de Bonvoisin, Jean-Paul Dumont, Patrick Denis and Jean-Pierre Van Rossem. Testimony of David Walsh confirms a relationship between Nihoul and Leroy, as well as Annie Bouty. X2 also spoke of another event between Leroy and Dumont, at which X2’s pimp Karel, Guy Delvoie and a certain Godfroi were present. Leroy also happened to have known Casper Flier, who was associated with Dutroux’s lackey Michel Lelievre and put Lelievre in contact with Nihoul and Bouty. What’s not exactly clear in the testimony of X2 is precide identity of “Godfroi,” who is described as a former “PJ socialite.” Could PJ in fact be Judicial Police, and if so the Brussels police officer Frederic “Fredo” Godfroi(d), also supposed to have been inspector for Brussels BOB? Whatever the case, Frederic Godfroi was a reported friend of Bultot and acquainted with Nihoul. Godfroi was an attendee of the Jonthan Club, which was also attended by Bultot, among others as Madani Bouhouche, Juan Mendez, Francis Dossogne, Jean-Francis Calmette, Robert Darville, Frans Reyniers, Lucien Ott and Raymond Lippens. Bultot was said to have been a friend of Francis Dossogne and also a good friend of the Jonathan Club’s owner Jean-Paul “Pepe” De Rycke, who also happened to be a close friend of Nihoul. In the early 1990s, Bultot was said to have enjoyed attending the Coco Beach club, owned by a certain “M.C.D.”, who was the former girlfriend of Patrick Haemers and had been staying with then-former owner of the Jonathan Club Pepe De Rycke. Coco Beach was also reportedly attended by Nihoul and members of the Haemers gang. Another notorious nightclub Bultot reportedly attended was Le Mirano, which was said to have also been attended by Bouhouche, Beijer, Achiel and Patrick Haemers and allegedly Nihoul, although he denied ever being there. In the testimony of X2, she was taken by her pimps Olivier Castiaux and “Karel” to cocaine-fueled child abuse events , which involved de Bonvoisin, Paul Bourlee, a certain Levi and Princes of the Saxe-Coburg Gotha royal family. In corroboration of X2’s testimony, another victim-witness VM1 had been recruited by Philippe Cryns to procure minors to be abused at secret orgies. Additionally, an investigation sparked in 1985 after the drug-overdose of Jean Jacques B. inside the nightclub, found out that Philippe Cryns and his partner Alexis Alewaeters had not only been involved in drug related offenses, but also sex crimes involving minors and even blackmail. In the court these latter matters were deliberately ignored and curiously, Alewaeters was in close contact with Nihoul and Bouty. Nihoul once claimed before the 2004 Dutroux trial that he had access to blackmail from Le Mirano against then Prince Albert II with a minor at Le Mirano. Furthermore, via his Nihoul-Bouty connection, Alewaeters’ lawyer became Didier de Quevy, who later would become the lawyer of Dutroux in the late 1980s and was close to Dumont. Testimony in the 1990s indicated that Nihoul and Cryns were in direct contact and Cryns’ involvement in the ’80s with Parc Savoy and the Cercle des Nations places him in the milieu of all the key players.

Referring back to the practical shooting clubs mentioned previously, it may be important to list out once again the key names. The Etterbeek based Practical Pistol Club of Belgium included members as Bultot, Bouhouche, Beyer, Mendez, Weykamp, Louvigny and Jean-Marie Paul. At the Practical Shooting Association could be found leading member Bouhouche, along with Bultot, Louvigny and Claude Dery. Strangely, Bouhouche, Beyer and Amory were plotting to assassinate Dery for some unknown reason. As can be seen, these key figures could all possibly be associated with each other. Men as Bultot, Bouhouche and Mendez could be found at these nightclubs and as for Louvigny, he was closely involved with the sparking of the Pinon affair via his pi agency BDRI. This is relevant because at these nightclubs were testimonies of child abuse and/or blackmail. The Gang of Nijvel affair has long been associated with the Pinon affair and even Bultot advised the reopening of the Pinon dossier, which may have been some kind veiled threat.

Bouhouche/Beijer connections

One possible connection Jean Bultot may have had was to Rene Mayerus, who was the head of the Diane Group. Mayerus was close to Bouhouche and is said to have later on put Bouhouche and Beyer in contact with the American Intertel. Bouhouche and Beyer had left the Gendarmerie and established themselves as private detectives under Agence Recherche Investigation (ARI), which was said to have really been subcontracted for Bob Louvigny’s BDRI. Bouhouche, with other Belgian Nazi militants, was said to have been recruited by the American-Swiss Carl Armfelt and before the murder of Mendez he had been questioned about his involvement in Fabrique Nationale (FN) and if he was associated with Armfelt. ARI had dealings with a private intel agency front organization called the European Institute of Management (EIM), which for some time was headed by Rene Mayerus (X1), who was succeeded by the American General Douglas MacArthur II. EIM was suspected to have taken over operations of the Public Intelligence Office (PIO) and Mayerus was said to have recruited PIO head Jean-Marie Bougerol to the EIM. Front de la Jeunesse (FJ) head Francis Dossogne reportedly took orders from Bougerol and Westland New Post (WNP) founder Paul Latinus was a PIO agent, who is believed to have been directed by EIM in the same fashion. Bouhouche was a WNP member and had also been an instructor at FJ training camps in the Ardennes, as well as the former OAS militant and Wackenhut member Jean-Francis Calmette. Frans Reyniers, who was accused of Pink Ballets alongside de Bonvoisin and was acquainted with Dumont and Roger Boas, frustrated investigations into Group G and the fascist underground, as well as the Pink Ballets, alongside Yves Zimmer (seen by X2) and Georges Marnette (accused by X2). It is in this milieux that we find “Group G.”

While working in the Gendarmerie during the 1970s, Bouhouche became involved with the National Bureau for Drugs (NBD), which was set up and headed by Commandant Leon Francois with the help of Minister of Defense Paul Vanden Boeynants and the CIA/DEA. Francois was a suspected Group G member and was accused alongside VdB by Maud Sarr of involvement in the “Pink Ballets.” In the 1979-1980 period, a major drug trafficking scandal broke out around the NBD and VdB himself. The investigation was led by Herman Vernaillen and Guy Goffinon. Both men would survive assassination attempts, reportedly Group G was responsible according to Martial Lekeu, who strongly hinted this clandestine organization was also responsible for the Bende. Bouhouche and his DEA friend Jean-Francois Buslik were linked to the assassination, as well as Faez El Ajjaz, who was linked to the WNP and EIM according to ARI documents. Another friend of Bouhouche and Buslik was Group G member Frank Eaton, who was also linked to assassinations. Lekeu also claimed Group G was responsible for a major heist of the Diane Group barracks, in which Bouhouche was highly suspected.

Michel Libert & Martial Lekeu make explosive claims

One of Bouhouche’s main contacts at the WNP was a man named Michel Libert, who would make explosive claims about the activities of the WNP in the 1982-1985 period:

“One received orders. We can go back to, say, 1982. From 1982 to 1985. There were projects.

‘[I was told:] You, Mr. Libert, know nothing about why we’re doing this. Nothing at all. All we ask is that your group, with cover from the gendarmerie, with cover from Security, carry out a job. Target: The supermarkets. Where are they? What kind of locks are there? What sort of protection do they have that could interfere with our operations? Does the store manager lock up? Or do they use an outside security company?’

We carried out the orders and sent in our reports: Hours of opening and closing. Everything you want to know about a supermarket. What was this for? This was one amongst hundreds of missions.”

– (2005, Daniele Ganser, ‘Nato’s Secret Armies’, page 144)

Libert is assumed here to have been hinting at the Gang of Nijvel, which targeted Delhaize supermarkets. The evidence pointing to involvement of the WNP-FJ crowd was compounded with the claims of Diana Group and BSR agent Martial Lekeu:

“When I joined the Gendarmerie I became a devout fascist. At the Diana Group I got to know people who had the same convictions as me. We greeted each other like the Nazis…

During the gatherings of the Front [de la Jeunesse] a plan was developed to destabilize Belgium and to prepare it for a non-democratic regime. This plan consisted of two parts: a cell political terrorism and a cell gangsterism. I worked in the cell gangsterism. I was one of the specialist who had to train young guys with rightist leanings, to knead them into a well trained gang prepared to do anything. After that I had to break all contact with them, so they could exist as an independent group and do robberies without them realizing they were part of a well-planned plot…”

– (1990, Hugo Gijsels, ‘The Gang & Co. – 20 years of destabilization in Belgium’, pages 145-146)

Additionally Lekeu is also extensively quoted as stating the following:

“My name is Martial Lekeu, I used to be with the Belgian Gendarmerie. I left Belgium in August 1984 after precise death threats against my kids. In the beginning of December 1983 I did go personally to the BSR of Wavre who were doing the investigation about the [Brabant] killing. I was surprised that no arrests had been made and I know that I did report myself what was going on – we were respecting killing like that – random killing or going into supermarket and killing people, even kids. I believe they kill about thirty people. So I told a gentleman I met: “Do you realise members of the Gendarmerie of the army are involved in that?” His answer was “Shut up! You know, we know. Take care of your own business. Get out of here!” What they were saying was that democracy was going away the leftists were in power the socialists and all this and they wanted more power. (Cites: Belgian Senate 1991 Gladio Report, page 62) …

“The guns they were using were coming from far away and that’s exactly what we had planned, to organise gangs and groups like that and let them go by themselves, but make sure they will survive and make sure to supply them and you know just to create a climate of terror in the country. They’d have two plans. The first one was to organise gangs to do hold up of hostage, you know, killing; the second one was to organise the so called “Left movement” who will do a terrorist attempt just to make believe, make the population believe that these terrorist attempts were done by the Left. (Cites: June 24, 1992, Allan Francovich: Gladio: The Foot Soldiers. Third of the total three Francovich Gladio documentaries, broadcasted on BBC2)

– (2005, Daniele Ganser, ‘Nato’s Secret Armies’, pages 143, 146)

WNP / FJ and Group G

As stated earlier, one of the main Bende suspects, Bouhouche, was a member of Westland New Post (WNP) and previously was an instructor at Front de la Jeunesse (FJ) training camps. He was also strongly suspected to have been a member of Group G, which was a subversive group formed within FJ to infiltrate the Gendarmerie and had apparently culminated in the WNP.

Bouhouche was also part of a “clandestine organization,” to which he attempted to recruit Beyer and apparently alongside Bultot, also Mendez. Amory would have known details about this and the planned terror-extortion campaign on warehouses. Through the practical shooting clubs, this apparently was related to the “warehouse panic” theme at events held by Bultot. De Staerke gang member and attendee of the Jonathan Club Leopold Van Esbroeck claimed Bultot tried to recruit him in early 1985 to join a “unit” that would commit “sham robberies” on department stores for payment to create an atmosphere of terror. good friend of Bultot was reportedly Francis Dossogne, head of FJ and Group G leader. Dossogne, Bultot and Bouhouche reportedly attended the Jonathan Club of Pepe De Rycke. Bultot’s father was also reportedly involved in the Parti des Forces Nouvelles (PFN), which has been considered the political-front of FJ.

In the period from 1974-‘75, de Bonvoisin, Emile Lecerf and Baron Albert Lambert set up the PFN, which held its first conference at the headquarters of the CEPIC. Sometime in 1975, Lecerf arranged a meeting of fascist militants from across Europe at de Bonvoisin’s castle in Maizeret. The meeting was attended by FJ head Francis Dossogne, who was a paid advisory of de Bonvoisin, together with representatives of the MSI from Italy, the French branch of Parti des Forces Nouvelles, the National Front from Britain, Fuerza Nueva from Spain and Ordine Nouvo from Italy.

According to statements of Lekeu, Group G had been working toward a coup since 1975. This claim had already been corroborated the following year, in 1976, when BOB officer Roger Tratsaert reported that there was an ongoing silent right-wing coup in preparation in Belgium, centered around Lecerf’s Nouvel Europe Magazine (NEM) and (ex-) officers of the military. Jean-Marie Bougerol of the PIO was a coordinating figure in this plot, along with Count Arnould de Briey, who was the son-in-law of Paul Van Zeeland. Previously, Bougerol, de Bonvoisin and Vanden Boeynants were said to have been involved in the aborted 1973 coup, l’Ordre Blue.

NEM was founded in 1971 and supported by de Bonvoisin and Vanden Boeynants. NEM was published by BdB’s CIDEP. In March Lecerf became its editor and two months later it began to make its first references to a coup. The following year, a number of NEM clubs were formed, where fascist militants were able to meet. In 1972, VdB established the CEPIC and became Minister of Defense. The next year was the year of the aborted 1973 coup. It was also the year that attendees of the NEM clubs formed the paramilitary group Front de la Jeunesse, which came to be headed by Francis Dossogne and recieved support from the CEPIC and specifically de Bonvoisin with his PDG company. In 1974, VdB and BdB founded the Public Intelligence Office (PIO), which Bougerol came to head. Col. Jean Militis suspected that Bougerol was a member of the Gang of Nijvel and warned journalist Rene Haquin about him. As a CEPIC member, Militis was among those named by Vernaillen, likely via the list provided by Leon Finne (murdered by Bende), who were involved in an attempt to destabilize Belgium in the 1980s. Other names included Vanden Boeynants, General Beaurir, Lt-Gen. Vivario Jose Desmarets and Raymond Charles. It also happened that in Bougerol’s disorderly room he was in possession of riot guns and a blow torch, which reminds one of the scene where Dewit and Fourez were murdered.

EIM/PIO and Operation Gladio

Implicated in the assassination attempts on Vernaillen and Goffinon, as well as the Gang of Nijvel, was a Syrian Faez al Ajjaz, who was in contact with Bougerol. Bouhouche and Buslik were also implicated and the former linked Ajjaz to EIM, which in-turn did business with his ARI. As mentioned earlier, Bougerol of the PIO was suspected to have been recruited by his good friend Rene Mayerus into the EIM, which appeared to have taken over the operations of the PIO. This shift came in 1980-1981, as a bombshell Surete report exposed the CEPIC clique, their support of the FJ and cultivation of a fascist underground.

One thing that sticks out about Bougerol is that he was a member of SDRA8, the stay-behind unit of Operation Gladio in Belgium. There was also a unit with the Surete, called STC/Mob. Around the time the existence of Gladio was confirmed by Italian PM Giulio Andreotti in 1990, the Belgian parliament released a report about the Bende stating that “the killers were members or former members of the security forces – extreme right-wingers who enjoyed high-level protection and were preparing a right-wing coup. It is now believed that the Brabant killings were part of a conspiracy to destabilise Belgium’s democratic regime, possibly to prepare the ground for a right-wing coup d’etat.” Suspicion also grew when a number of WNP members who had “stolen” NATO documents were mysteriously acquitted.

It has been pointed out, with the above statements of Libert and Lekeu, that the Gladio stay-behind unit of Portugal, Aginter Presse, had a document that was eerily similar:

“In the first phase of our political activity we must create chaos in all structures of the regime. Two forms of terrorism can provoke such a situation: blind terrorism (committing massacres indiscriminately which cause a large number of victims), and selective terrorism (eliminate chosen persons). This destruction of the state must be carried out as much as possible under the cover of ‘communist activities.’ After that, we must intervene at the heart of the military, the juridical power and the church, in order to influence popular opinion, suggest a solution, and clearly demonstrate the weakness of the present legal apparatus… Popular opinion must be polarized in such a way, that we are being presented as the only instrument capable of saving the nation. It is obvious that we will need considerable financial resources to carry out such operations.”

– (Ganser, ‘Nato’s Secret Armies’, page 118)

With this quote we can see that ordo ab chao is the modus operandi and that an apparent Hegelian dialectic was at play.

Surete

Members of the WNP, and indeed others involved in Gladio, claimed that they had carried out orders of State Security. Bultot for instance claimed Surete was behind the Bende.

However, it was Surete that exposed the CEPIC in their support and fomenting of FJ and fascist underground. Bultot also claimed that the Pinon dossier had to do with the Bende. Curiously a Surete agent, Christiaan Smets, was implicated and it was this tie that was used by the VdB-BdB clique to attack Surete. Baron de Bonvoisin even published a book about the conspiracy of State Security, his archnemesis being Albert Raes. However, BdB’s credibility was totally shot when he was convicted alongside a family member and Christian Amory for fabricating documents implicating his enemies as agents of the KGB. For now, it is believed that the Surete-track has always been disinformation.

Patrick Haemers

One longtime Bende suspect was the notorious Belgian criminal Patrick Haemers, who had blonde hair and blue, matching one or more of the eyewitness descriptions.

Patrick Haemers and his father were said to have visited Le Mirano and The Dolo. Bultot also attended Coco Beach, which was owned by a close former girlfriend of Haemers. At that time, she was living with Pepe De Rycke, who owned The Jonathan Club in the 1980s. De Rycke was a close friend of Nihoul and according to testimony of Anneke Lucas, Nihoul was possibly even more close to Patrick and Achielle Haemers via the network around Vanden Boeynants since the early 1970s. According to Anneke, she was saved in the 1974 by Patrick from being murdered by Nihoul, after which Patrick became a vassal of VdB. In 1990, Patrick Haemers and his gang “kidnapped” VdB, after which they were caught and sent to jail. Patrick died in 1993 by a mysterious suicide while in prison, many close to him suspected that he had been assassinated. According to Patrick, he had carried out the “kidnapping” on order of a mysterious “organization,” to which his contact was the lawyer Michel Vander Elst, who was caught fabricating alibis for the Haemers gang, Vander Elst repeated this for Nihoul in the Dutroux trial. Vander Elst was also accused by X1 of being a sadistic abuser alongside Vanden Boeynants, de Bonvoisin and Counts Maurice and Leopold Lippens in 1979. X1 also accused Vander Elst of involvement in several child murders, including Christine Van Hees in 1984 and Katrien De Cuyper in 1991.

Furthermore, Vander Elst and his father Raymond were named as members of the “Nebula” around Felix Przedborski, who was a member of the Cercle des Nations. Vanden Boeynants and Roger Boas of the ASCO factory were also named. Raymond Vander Elst was a lawyer and member of the Freemasonic Grand Orient de France. Curiously, the Haemers report mentioned a certain “Lodge” headed by Alfred Cahen (ATLAS dossier/Nebula), which involved Eric Haemers and possibly Achielle. Other reported members included Jean Gol (Les Atrebates & The Dolo), Willy De Clerq (friend of X1’s pimp Tony Van Den Bogaert) and Willy Claes (NATO, accused by X3). While in jail, Patrick Haemers and his girlfriend were visited by de Bonvoisin, about whom Patrick stated to his lawyer that he knew him and had previously met him while in Brazil.

Some later updates

In 2015 Christiaan Bonkoffsky passed away and according to a sibling he had confessed to being “the giant,” although this was later supposedly proven false. Bonkoffsky had been a member of the Diana Group, which has long been suspected of involvement in the Bende. At the time of the latter attacks, a friend claimed Bonkoffsky spoke about a coup.

One interesting line of inquiry was followed by the French researcher Jean-Pierre Adams, who suspects two French brothers of being involved in the Gang. A man pointed out by someone early on as being one of the perpetrators was a certain Xavier Sliman, whose brother was Thierry Sliman. Adams found a lot of similarities between these two and descriptions given of the perpetrators. The Slimans have been suspected in the Dekaise armory robbery. Adams ran into the Slimans via his inquiry into the murder of Michel Piro, who was murdered possibly by Thierry, in 1996. Before his death, Piro had wanted to give information about Julie and Melissa, two of the youngest victims of Dutroux, to their parents. Piro had also been in close proximity to Nihoul, because they reportedly visited the same nightclubs. Dutroux had also been looking for an assassin to kill Bruno Tagliaferro and his wife Fabienne Jaupart and had offered this job to a certain “Thierry.” Although this author cannot be entire sure, one does wonder if that Thierry, who was an associate of Nihoul, was Theirry Sliman.

Although it appears that Adams believes this track disproves suspicions of destabilization plots, targeted assassinations and such, it is highly suspected by this author that the Slimans were associated with the above milieux.

Conclusion

While many of the old tracks have been briefly covered in this latter chapter, there is still a ton more information that could be reviewed. Primarily for space and time, this article has been cut short. This was also done because there is a lot of repeat information on this site.

The Bende timeline made to be quite extensive because a number of contextual matters were covered initially.

While the Gang of Nijvel dossier is set to be closed in 2025, there is still a sliver of hope that a new breakthrough will occur. While there appear to be a number of puzzle pieces, this author has attempted to put some of them. This article may be expanded, but in the meantime work will swiftly begin on future articles.

Notes

1. …