The Hornec family has recently been talked about again, in an attempted robbery case. The facts took place near Valenciennes, on February 21. Two brothers, aged 22 and 25, pretended to be police to steal a gold bar from an old man. Their arrest a few minutes after the crime made it possible to identify them: they are part of the third generation of the Hornec clan.
The Hornec family became known for the growing place it took in French organized crime from the 1990s. Three brothers are in charge: Jean-Claude, Mario and Marc, from the family home located in Montreuil, in Seine-Saint-Denis. Professional scrap metal workers, the many investigations opened into their activities in the early 2000s have brought to light their major role in the criminal world.
Thefts by usurpation of the police function
Police link the Hornecs to numerous cases robbery, racketeering or extortion during these two decades. But it is drug trafficking that will bring part of the first generation of the clan to court, then to prison. Jean Clade and Mario were sentenced in 2009 to 8 and 7 years’ imprisonmentto get supervised cocaine trafficking between Colombia and Europe. The third brother, Marc, was sentenced to ten years in prison on June 5, 2008 for criminal association and theft, a sentence subsequently reduced to four years on appeal. Nine other members of the Hornec family also appeared during this case.
The modus operandi of these thefts, committed between 2000 and 2002, recalls that committed by their successors this year in Valenciennes. The magazine The Obs reported in 2008 that “the defendants would have abused, often pretending to be policea hundred victims, especially elderly and wealthy people, in Picardy, Normandy and Isère, between 2000 and 2002, for the purpose of stealing their savings, jewelry or valuables.
