A hand in plaster, another that connects beers, Dédé (his nickname has been changed)
has more and more difficulty lighting his cigarettes.
It is not too much form at the moment.
After a month of procrastinating, the 57-year-old burglar finally called us back.
He is willing to tell us about his life, "on condition of giving no blase".
He doesn't have much else to do anyway.
Forced unemployment with his arm in compote.
Near a bistro, "young people [him] lacked respect."
In front of the sentencing judge, it did not make too good an impression.
On New Year's Eve, he was caught with his “apprentice” by the banditry repression squad.
He had just "done" an apartment in a beautiful building in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
The trial, in February 2021, was tasty.
Dede pretended to be a beginner.
No one believed it but everyone was smiling.
With his white hair and his courtesy, he was doing well in court.
“Everything was perfect.
The armored door, closed, was like new ”
The victims, an elderly couple, even found him rather nice.
“Frankly, if the police hadn't told us that we had been burgled, we wouldn't have noticed anything,” the owner confided to us.
Everything was perfect.
The armored door, which had been closed, was like new.
The prosecution couldn't even stop the break-in.
A true work of goldsmith.
Read also Burglaries in Paris: the ace of the "umbrella" sentenced to 15 months in prison
The police had found an improbable toolbox on Dede.
The otoscope, a device used by otorhinos, allowed him to examine the signs of wear in the lock.
An "umbrella", a sort of brass object made up of seven blades, reproduced the key.
"Usually, we tend to have defendants who open the doors with a crowbar," the president pointed out to him, intrigued by this singular profile.
“Oh you know the umbrella, it's very simple,” the burglar replied modestly.
We pump, we pump, we pump, and it ends up opening.
The sentence had hit the mark and Dede got away with an adaptable sentence.
"I have never really been in violence, it is not my education"
In reality, there are only a handful in France to master this technique. "Stop saying that," annoys Dédé, as we stroll through the streets of the 14th arrondissement where he has lived since he was 13 years old. I'm just a small-time thief. "After 40 years in the burglary, the Parisian still claims the opening" of more than 1000 lourdes ". Arrested five times, he served a bit of prison. Got out thanks to his friends. Finally, those who remain to him.
“Of the 50 with whom I grew up on the streets, only two or three have succeeded
(Editor's note: you have to understand a career in delinquency)
. They did not drink, do not take drugs or run after the girls. Me, with the heroine for a period and the pillave
(Editor's note: alcohol),
I never broke through. " And the others ? "Most are dead," he evades, leaving a two-euro coin at the cashier of the supermarket where he refueled.
The street is where he learned his trade.
"I have always been in the hay," he rewinds.
My parents were hitting each other.
So I was doing bullshit.
For it to become a profession, you have to know how to surround yourself with the smartest guys.
They are not going to tell
you to do this or to do that
.
You have to observe and learn.
Fairly quickly, Dédé specializes in burglaries.
“I have never really been in the violence.
It's not my education.
I have been asked a lot for sausages but I have always refused.
Afterwards, when you grow up in the street, you have to be violent.
Otherwise, you don't survive.
"
"Do you know I did it, Renaud?"
And when he comes face to face with victims? "Already you manage so that there is no one. The worst part is running into children. Several times I found myself in front of people returning to their homes. As I mostly work in bourgeois places, the guy's first instinct is to step aside to let you out. It happened to me to parley. Once, a guy even said to me:
Do not take you there!
". On Boulevard du Montparnasse, the homes are more opulent. Dede is more and more smiling. We don't know if it's beer or if it's because we are approaching our hunting ground. "Hey, this is an Abloy," he slips casually, pointing to the lock of a building.
In front of the Closerie des Lilas, where the singer Renaud liked to spend time, Dédé sang “Comrade bourgeois”.
"Do you know I did it, Renaud?"
When he lived in rue des Quatre-fils.
I was all alone, I had gone through the roofs.
I had stolen a hundred videos from him.
I like his songs, except when he says he kissed a cop.
Exactly, isn't it a little weird to steal someone you like?
Stupid question apparently.
"It's my job," he sweeps.
"Do not believe that we touch fortunes"
A profession that is not as lucrative as you might think.
“There was a time when you could do six heavy in a row,” he smiles.
Now, if I do three a month, that's already good.
Do not believe that we touch fortunes.
Look at me, I don't have a circle.
On an average, you can make 1000 balls.
And then there is all the tracking.
Finding apartments, locating locks within reach… It's not easy.
"
We understand that the climber of the green years has lived.
Every now and then he is lucky enough to stumble upon a chest.
To win him over, he must return with the appropriate equipment.
"That's why you're not messing around.
If the guy finds out that someone's been to his house, he changes the lock and you end up like a jerk.
"
It has been a long time since Dédé gave up exercising a legal profession. “I tried, but I wasn't cut out for it. I never liked being given orders ”. Obviously, for retirement points, this is not ideal. "Anyway, what do you want me to do?" I can't stop. I have three kids. And then I have the dass
(Editor's note: AIDS)
. The heroine is a beautiful piece of crap. For the umpteenth time, he tries in vain to light a cigarette on his own. " Ah thank you. Well, I'm counting on you, aren't you talking too much bullshit? "
