She loves her Gony so much that she has his name tattooed on her right wrist. On the left, Angelina (the first name has been changed) has her own nickname written, “Angie”. The ink is still fresh, his skin red from the pricks of the needle. The teenager, aged 16 or 17 at most, proudly shares the result on the social network TikTok, with lots of heart emojis: « Yes I love my love. » The young girl has the beauty of reality TV stars: artificial blonde, bright lipstick, eyebrows dyed with a brush.
His life parades on TikTok in a farandole of videos, against a backdrop of Bosnian love songs dripping with melancholy. Angie on vacation in Barcelona, smoking hookah. Angie with her little sister, accomplices. Angie in front of the Eiffel Tower with her Gony, a little brunette with a baby face and a mustache as fine as down. Angie with a wad of bank notes. Angie in a big car going 240 km/h on the highway. Angie with a man displaying a gun in his belt. Angie with another, mockingly, brandishing two hammers as if showing weapons ready to strike…
Angelina is not a teenager like the others. She doesn’t go to high school. In his family, no one goes to school. The H., a clan of Bosnian origin, have other ambitions for their – numerous – children: to fly. In the Paris metro, the RER, at Disneyland Paris, at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. Preferably foreign tourists, who stock up on cash upon their arrival in France. A hand slipped discreetly into a bag, a traveler pressed a little closer to access his wallet, and presto! the pickpockets disappear as soon as the train doors close.
Most often, the thieves are thieves, whose polished appearance has nothing to do with the caricature of the Roma conveyed by some. How better to blend in than by looking like girls your age? On a good day, the clan can amass up to 5,000 euros in “income”. An easy and light life, in appearance, although away from the nails. In the videos, Angelina rarely takes off her Gucci belt. But social networks are the showcase of cheap happiness.
Sprawling organization
The reality can be read more in the grounds for indictment handed down in March against six leaders of Roberto H.’s clan, to which Angelina depends: “organized gang theft”, “money laundering”, “criminal association”, “trafficking of human beings”… That month, the network was decapitated by the minor protection brigade, following a wave of arrests concluding two years of investigation. Just in time so that the celebration of the Olympic Games, which saw thousands of visitors parade through Paris all summer, is not spoiled by hands that are too nimble.
You have 81.36% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
