“At night it is as dark as hell here.�
Every story has a beginning and an end. The story of the ‘Gang of Nivelles’, however, has as yet had no closure. We will have to wait a little longer. ‘A little longer’. When spoken by Belgian judges or lawyers, these words will be construed as ‘a very long time’. By the most optimistic, that is. ‘Never at all’ might be somewhat closer to the truth. It all began with a robbery at an arms shop in Dinant, a small town in Wallonia. A punt gun was stolen. A hunting rifle capable of firing half a kilo of lead with a single shot. Impossible to miss any target. That particular day in March 1982 is generally considered to be the first concrete lead in the hunt for the Gang of Nivelles. It marked the beginning of the greatest mystery in Belgian criminal history. Several burglaries, thefts, robberies and murders left Belgium in a state of shock. Twenty-eight people left dead for negligible loot, and the entire Province of Brabant terror-stricken. People who remember those days may be unwilling to reminisce. A quick trip to the supermarket, shortly before closing time? Rather not, thank you. Female cashiers working the late shift were not to be envied. Constant fear and sweaty hands was their lot. The Volkswagen Golf GTI, the getaway car used by the killer gang, ceased to be hip overnight. ‘The Giant’ was no longer an attraction in a theme park, but the tall masked thug leading the attacks. The forest of La Houssière lost its natural innocence forever, for it harbours in its soil the never-found corpse of the ‘Killer’, who was allegedly fatally wounded in the course of the last attack in Aalst. Since then, the Gang of Nivelles was never seen or heard of again. The echo of gunshots has faded, but the conspiracy theories on the desks of investigators and journalists alike remain very much alive to this day. And not only with them, but also with a young photographer focusing his fascination and lens on the most horrible crime story in Belgian history.
One Friday night, a father hopped over to the supermarket across the street to buy some cigarettes before closing time. As the father of a young photographer-to-be lay dying on the floor, his television was still playing but staring at an empty couch. He was an item in the news broadcast, but noone was watching in his empty living room. Thirty years later, his son watches the news footage again. All traces to the Gang of Nivelles are obliterated. But the story is not dead yet. Not for some time to come.
Stephan Vanfleteren
BR – Braine-l’Alleud / Eigenbrakel, 27-09-1985 20:10-20:15 OV – Overijse, 27-09-1985 20:35
A little boy of twelve was playing near the car park of the Delhaize supermarket in Braine-l’Alleud when, suddenly, he was taken hostage by three masked men. The men forced him into the supermarket and used him as a human shield during the robbery, during which three people were killed. The robbers fled with a small loot of 20,000 euros. In their getaway car, they took to the motorway at high speed. Hardly thirty minutes later, the same men swooped down on the Delhaize supermarket in Overijse. Here, five people were killed among whom a child who was riding his bike at the entrance of the supermarket. Another notable victim was banker Leon Finné, a former executive at the Copine Bank. That Friday, Leon Finné had returned from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He was wellknown in Brussels criminal circles and worked as a police snitch.