The Murderous Gang that Vanished into Thin Air

[@isaackeigwin]

Man the titles and thumbnails scream much bigger channel than this is, this is high quality mystery material. Loved your narration and summarization of these events, thank you for your work. I’ll be watching some more of your videos and hope to see the channel prosper!

[@crowmudgeon]

Thanks so much! I'm actually working hard on another video as we speak. If you've seen the Skinamarink video I put out last Saturday, it'll be in a similar vein as that!

[@mayrahemmerechts5867]

Hi, viewer from Belgium here! you did a great job on researching this case. I have an update on it, it has been in the news here in flanders that if they dont find some substantial evidence by november of this year they will suspend the statute of limitations and rop this case all together because they think that if any evidence is found after this year there wont be enough time to start up legal procedings and convict someone by 2025. They have an idea of who did it, there are things that pôint in a certain direction but the evidence isnt strong enough because of mixups between the flemish and walloon police and their language barrier and also because a lot of evidence went missing, has been tampered with or been destroyed "by accident" (no one is buying it btw) and a lot of people who were involved (survivors, whitnesses, suspects and detectives) have since passed away. It has also been speculated that the Van der Steen family (the family of 4 you mentioned) was killed because they knew too much or had some suspicions or inside information that posed a threat to the gang. not all of the family was killed tho, David the son survived with a permanent injury to his leg and a scarred mental state but his memory and the details of it from what he saw that day at only 9 years old (i think he was) has proven vital to the case, hes also the current main spokesperson for the victims and survivors. If you are interesting in learning more of the details about this case I highly recommend you watch the thriller documentary movie Niet schieten! ( meaning dont shoot!), it tells the story of the case starting with david's family (he was involved in the production as it also had to be an as accurate as possible reconstruction of the events of that night in hopes whitnesses would come forward with new info) and the last attack the gang did in Aalst. the movie really gives you a sense of the terror, confusion and anger everyone was feeling at the time and the suspicions that everyone had. the movie is made acurate to the events which means you will hear people switching back and forth between french and flemish a lot but mostly speaking in flemish as the events take place in Aalst where the majority speaks flemish (dutch dialect), there are subtitles in both french and dutch and presumably in german too since belgium is legaly a trilingual state but im not sure if english subtitles exist, you can find the movie on the following streaming sites but might need a VPN to acces them: - google play - streamz.be - VTM go - apple tv - proximus pikx (here it costs 3 euros to watch) and you can also find the DVD on bol.com I hope you find it interesting

[@crowmudgeon]

Thank you so much for the comment! I really appreciate your taking the time to give me some deeper insight into the case. I'm generally quite concerned when making these videos that I won't handle things with sensitivity or that my research will be insufficient. Glad to know that you thought I did a good job :) The movie sounds quite interesting!

[@mayrahemmerechts5867]

@@crowmudgeon there is an exciting update in the case, late last year 2 dudes who went metal fishing (thats with strong magnets) fished up some old weapons that they are now trying to link to the case and thanks to this they also have a man in custody now that they are trying to get to talk about any possible involvment in the case!

[@crowmudgeon]

@@mayrahemmerechts5867 Oh wow, that's crazy! I see videos of people doing that in my shorts feed here on KZbin 😂 It's very encouraging to hear that investigators are finally getting some traction with this case. It's always felt like a bottomless pit for the people of Belgium, swallowing up all the time and effort that went into solving it without ever giving anything up in return. Hope to see it solved very soon.

[@mayrahemmerechts5867]

@@crowmudgeon lets just hope this suspect doesnt also die in custody under "misterious circumstances" like at least one other did...😑

[@Spoon3rYT]

Ook 1985 gezien? de 3 grote hoofdrollen en hun familie zijn fictief, maar de rest klopt meestal toch met de realiteit

[@victorfortunato]

One of the theories why they use voklswagen cars is because, the police use volkswagens so they were used to working on that kind of cars and where to get spare parts without raising suspicion. Other theory is that one of them had limp and was consistent with a leg injury that one gendarmeríe had years prior and results to him being discharged from the force

[@CFootprints]

This case is one that will forever live on in our collective memory. Not only because of the ruthlessness of the gang, but also because of all the oddities surrounding this case. How were they so seemingly well trained for robbers? How did they have so much insight into how the police would respond? How could they get away with all their antics again and again. And the one that keeps most people awake at night, especially after the movie "Don't shoot" came out; why, for the love of god, did the police face the street instead of the Delhaize when the gang could've still been in the store? And why was their case handled like a hot potato, being handed from police station to police station (nowadays we just have "the police", but back then, there were a lot of local police stations for every city and town, not to mention they operated around the language border and Brussels), apparently causing parts of the case to go missing, evidence to get lost etc. This has always been and will always be a very enigmatic case for countless reasons. Thanks for shining a light on this case, it's not often that Belgian cases get international acclaim (apart from the Dutroux case).

[@courtneyderouen]

Sounds like these guys ARE/WERE policemen.

[@mc5967]

Operation gladio

[@faraipeter4320]

It was all part of the "strategy of tension" of operation gladio

[@the3dprintingbelgian]

Holy shit my country's biggest unsolved case

[@crowmudgeon]

It's certainly a wild one

[@l.w.johnson4669]

Great story! I enjoy how you summarize and analyze this story! Oh and when you said the grocery store robberies seemed to be their “bread & butter”! Lol! Makes sense! 🤣 your humor is the best!

[@crowmudgeon]

Thanks so much for the kind words! I really appreciate it!

[@coyoteartist]

Food makes sense if they moved around alot. And they may well have thought the Volkswagen to be the most reliable car for the job.

[@crowmudgeon]

Good insights! Also, thanks for checking out some of my older videos. I appreciate the comments :)

[@coyoteartist]

@@crowmudgeon No worries. They're good videos.

[@faraipeter4320]

It was part of "Strategy of tension" of Operation Gladio, same things happened in Italy&Turkey

[@jeravincer]

There’s a great TV series on these murders called 1985 made in Belgium

[@LucasLucas-ne4xs]

Nice job to try to fit this complex story in a 13 mins video and get the most important facts right. Like you said there have been rumours about a conspiracy with Police or Secret Service involved, but never any proof was found. Al we know is the raids stopped after November 10th 1985 and the Aalst Delhaize massacre. Police and researchers are pretty sure 1 of the gangsters was seriously injured in that last raid and probably died that night. It could explain why the other members chose to quit, but we'll probably never know if it was pure banditry albeit by some serious psychopaths, a gang heavily involved in gun- and drugtrafficing and extortion or politically motivated terrorism (possibly with involvement of State officials)

[@crowmudgeon]

Yeah, for sure one of the wildest cases I've heard of. Thanks for your comment!

[@MeanBeanComedy]

Where's the accent from? It's Southeast, but not _too_ southeast. I'm in NC, but I'd guess TN if I had to.

[@summer21wars55]

Love the video! ❤️ imma start watching your videos while I eat lol

[@crowmudgeon]

My ultimate goal of being someone people watch while they eat will be fulfilled 😤

[@courtneyderouen]

These guys had to be policemen or related to one.

[@stephanclemens2348]

I do not have any prove for my claim but i am 100% sure to know why they picked VW's. I lived in Brussels as a kid in pretty close Proximity to the Overijse store when it was attacked and once during my Bus Ride from School to home i started to count the VW Golfs i saw on the way home. I think I counted 96 and It kinda felt like every 3rd car on the street was a VW Golf. Using a VW made them vanish in traffic, it's as simple as that.

[@tthompson9244]

You narrate well but all the edits are distracting. One time there were three edits in one sentence.

[@crowmudgeon]

Very fair. I tend to lack confidence in my narration as I feel like I speak too slowly, so at the time I did this, the edits served as a misguided attempt to not waste people's time. Plus, it was my second attempt at anything like this. In any case, your feedback is greatly appreciated! 😀

[@Bomboclat20246]

For the Algorithmen

[@martkbanjoboy8853]

Onlythe Marc Dutroux case rivals this case in infamy in Belgium.

[@Anja-LeonaLouise]

If I think as, a Belgium of the bende van Nijvel (gang of Nijvel) I think of brutal roberies , drugs, Stolen weapons and gendarmerie uniforms, mafia practice, army, intimidation, a dirty Court, execution style murders, sexparty castle / pedofelia, hy placed people, a prince, maybe even conection to the case Dutroux.

[@aperson336]

They really went loud on shoplifting

[@Baggytrousers27]

Anyone else missing 240p and 480p on this video?

[@Disneynurse2024]

The Never did somethimg in france just belgium and gandarmarie is frensch in Belgium it is Rijkswacht

[@mayrahemmerechts5867]

Belgium is a trilingual country, here we speak flemish (dutch dialect), french and german so both rijkswacht and gendarmerie are correct and often used interchangebly in some areas (specially vlaams brabant and antwerpen)

[@Disneynurse2024]

@@mayrahemmerechts5867 ik ben van Antwerpen het enige woord dat ik hier hoor is rijkswacht staat ook op de oude gebouwen die nog rechtstaan komt er nog bij er zijn dingen aan dit filmpje die niet kloppen er is nooit een aanslag geweest in Frankrijk enkel bij ons

[@mayrahemmerechts5867]

@@Disneynurse2024 Oude mensen die in dialect spreken die zeggen soms gendarme in plaats van rijkswacht, dat van die gebouwen klopt wel. Het is al even geleden dat ik de video nog gezien heb dus ik herinner mij niet dat er een aanslag in Frankrijk vernoemd werd maar ik ken ook het verhaal en weet dat er inderdaad geen aanslag was in Frankrijk, misschien bedoelde hij Wallonië?

[@Disneynurse2024]

@@mayrahemmerechts5867 kan maar in andere landen denken ze dat wij enkel Frans spreken er is zo een filmpje van 22 maart en iedereen spreekt Frans terwijl de koning ook een toespraak had gegeven in Vlaams ik vraag me daarom ook al lang af hoeveel mensen eigenlijk weten over ons land en geschiedenis gezien er in Amerika al een gedoe was over zwarte Piet gok ik dat de kennis niet groot is

[@LucasLucas-ne4xs]

They DID rob a grocerystore in Maubeuge (that is in France just 8km over the border with Belgium) on the night of August 13th-14th 1982, and got in a firefight with French Police. And Rijkswacht in Wallonia is...Gendarmerie. He is spot on on both.