In 2004, the case of the Gang des postiches resurfaced when serial killer Michel Fourniret admitted that he acquired his fortune from the Gang des postiches, when he recovered some of the gold which had been hidden in cemeteries. Fourniret was a former cellmate of Jean-Pierre Hellegouarch (believed to be a treasurer for the gang) whose partner, Farida Hamiche, helped Fourniret recover the gold, she was subsequently murdered.
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Claude Genova quickly assumed the gap the brothers left and continued running low-level prostitution rings until his 1994 assassination. The Gang des postiches robbed nearly 30 banks during their run from 1981 to 1986. Claude Genova's connections and infrastructure was overtaken by the Hornec brothers in 1994.
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During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century hairdressers in England and France did a brisk business supplying postiches, or pre-made small wiglets, curls, and false buns to be incorporated into the hairstyle. The use of postiches did not diminish even as women's hair grew shorter in the decade between 1910 and 1920, but they seem to have gone out of fashion during the 1920s.Emile Long, Hairstyles and Fashion: A Hairdresser's History of Paris, 1910–1920, edited with an introduction by Steven Zdatny, Berg (Oxford International Publishers Ltd), 1999 In the 1960s a new type of synthetic wig was developed using a modacrylic fiber which made wigs more affordable. Reid-Meredith was a pioneer in the sales of these types of wigs.
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The police and the government eventually lost their patience with the ease with which the Gang des postiches operated and their mythification by the press. All available resources were deployed to combat them. The police developed an anti-wig device in Paris bank branches. This system was far from effective, but the gang felt the pressure rising around them.
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Amidst the robberies, and in the absence of any leads for the investigators, journalists treated the robbers almost as heroes, since the gang were respectful to their hostages and did not hurt them. The robbers addressed the bank patrons and benefited from a strong sympathy among ordinary people, who smiled more than they were bothered when they heard that the Gang des postiches had struck again. There was even talk of the gang following a leftist guerilla ideology, which was clearly erroneous.
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The Gang des postiches () was a famous team of bank robbers that operated in Paris between 1981 and 1986. With a rare boldness, they attacked about thirty banks. They would enter the bank dressed in common clothing and wearing false mustaches, beards, and wigs (from which they got their name). After entering the bank, they would separate into two groups, the first responsible for taking hostages, while the second went about acquiring cash and emptying safe deposit boxes (which were not under surveillance during opening hours).
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First published in French 1862. Routledge, 2013 A coiffure was usually put together with clients own hair as a base, including metal wire and padded cushion supports, false hair (postiches), wheat starch, pomade made of lard and ornaments like flowers, feathers, jewelry, ribbons, gauze, lace and sometimes even with little objects like miniature ships.The Woman of the Eighteenth Century: Her Life, from Birth to Death, Her Love and Her Philosophy in the Worlds of Salon, Shop and Street, by Edmond de Goncourt, Jules de Goncourt, page 235. First published in French 1862.
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The Gang des Tractions Avant was a criminal gang in the Pigalle quarter of Paris, made up of surviving members of the Carlingue militia, lapsed police officers and criminals from the French Resistance. Most of them had moved from collaboration with the German occupiers to the Resistance, and then moved into organised crime—though even if their milieu changed, their behaviour and methods remained the same. The gang was named after its preferred vehicle, the Citroën 11CV "Traction".Les vrais Tontons flingueurs Its methods were largely derived from those of the Bonnot Gang and were mostly continued by a number of other gangs, notably the gang des postiches.
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