Topic: Artikel: What's interesting about the Bende van Nijvel?

What's interesting about the Bende van Nijvel?

My name is John Stevens and I've been invited to blog here. For instance about about the Brabant Killers (in Dutch, the Bende Van Nijvel, in French Les Tueurs du Brabant) that rampaged through Belgium in the mid 1980's).

"What's so very interesting about that?" You may think: "Who cares about unsolved armed robberies that took place over 20 years ago? And why does an Englishman find this so interesting?"

And these are fair points! But I hope to persuade you that this case is not only fascinating, but also relevant to many other major unsolved crimes. For example, I was recently contacted by a Swedish journalist whose major interest is the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.

He told me that  the Belgian connection was considered very important right from the beginning. And it turns out that a major suspect, in the Olof Palme investigation, was a Belgian citizen. This was news for me. And what was news for the Swede was that this same person had also identified, in a Belgian police statement, as suspect No 1 as the organizer for the Brabant Killers. Interesting!

And it’s not just Sweden. Italians also have every reason to be interested. All Italians know about the unexplained bombings of the 1980’s, with perhaps the worst example being the railway station bombing in Bologna which claimed 81 lives in 1981. And many Italians know that the pseudo-masonic P2 (propagande Due) lodge was suspected of involvement. And why did the P2 do that. To destabilize the country, according to this theory.

What Italians do not know is that a key P2 member, Elio Ciolini, fled Italy and went to live in Belgium, using a false name. Was he involved in the Brabant Killings? No proof of that.

But he did become a key member of the Haemers criminal gang who committed extremely violent hold-ups in the 1980’s, and kidnapped the ex-Belgian Prime Minister. The Haemers gang remain major suspects for the Brabant Killings. And the Haemers gang gave their money, from the hold-ups, to P2 member Elio Ciolini.

Now why would they do that?

And this is what this blog is all about. I will be digging into the mystery behind the Brabant Killers and, at the same time, attempting to shed light on many of the darkest and dirtiest little secrets that have remained hidden, in many countries, during the last 20 years.

Bron » crimelink.nl | 19 december 2008

Re: Artikel: What's interesting about the Bende van Nijvel?

Woon zelf al een aantal jaren in Zweden en ken de zaak-Palme goed. Hier in Zweden is een man uit het vreemdelingenlegioen met de naam "Jean-Claude" ooit genoemd in verband met de zaak-Palme. Een Zweedse ambassademedewerker in Brussel had daar kort na de moord in 1986 een gerucht over opgevangen. Meer dan een gerucht is het nooit geweest.

In tegenstelling tot wat deze meneer John Stevens op crimelink.nl schrijft hebben de Zweedse onderzoekers dit nooit als een serieus spoor beschouwd, laat staan als een "major suspect". Ze hebben wel enige naspeuringen gedaan en kwamen tot de slotsom dat de man mogelijk Davril kon heten. Daar is niet eens zekerheid over. Noch over de vraag of het gerucht substantie had.

In de Belgische pers hebben sommigen toen gezegd dat dit Jean-Claude Darville moest heten. De vroegere onderzoeksleider in de zaak-Palme beschreef hem in zijn memoires als een "fantasiefiguur".