Francis Vanverberghe

Francis Vanverberghe (born March 3, 1946 in Marseille , † September 27, 2000 in Paris ) was one of the last great mafia bosses from the Marseille demi- world milieu . Possibly due to the origin of his father from the town of Croix in French Flanders or due to his frequent stays in Belgium , he was also known by the nickname le Belge (the Belgian).

biography

At the age of 16, he came into conflict with the law for the first time due to car break-ins. He served his first imprisonment in 1965 for aggravated pimping , the second followed in 1967 for aggravated assault against police forces . In 1968 he was included in the file of serious criminals.

On March 31, 1973, Francis le Belge was involved in an exchange of fire in the Marseilles Bar du Tanagra , which resulted in a bloodbath with four dead. Among the dead were the two Zampa brothers, with whom Vanverberghe fought for supremacy in the drug trade. Although the Belgian emerged victorious from this shootout, he was sentenced to three years ' imprisonment in November of the same year for using forged papers and illegally possessing weapons .

On July 1, 1977, he was convicted of heroin trafficking again. The prison sentence this time was 12 years; on June 28, 1984, however, Vanderberghe was released early.

In 1988 he was arrested in Belgium for using false papers again. After serving his sentence, he was extradited to France . Another drug trafficking trial was pending against him. Another imprisonment followed, which only ended in December 1992 on payment of a bail of 1.5 million francs .

In November 1993 he was charged with armed conflict with another gang. They were responsible for the murder of his brother José in September 1989, at a time when Francis was in custody. In December 1994, he was released for lack of evidence.

He was arrested again in March 2000 for severe pimping. After two months he was released on bail of 800,000 francs. In the meantime, "the Belgian" was already living in Paris. There he was shot dead on September 27, 2000 by a contract killer from a rival gang.

Individual references and web links

• Data from the life of Vanverberghe (French)
• Article on Vanverberghe's assassination in French
• Article on Vanverberghe's assassination in English