Editing Bonnot Gang

{{short description|French criminal anarchist group (1911–1912, convicted 1913) and supporters of illegalism}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}
[[File:La_bande_à_Bonnot_-_Le_guet-apens_dans_la_forêt_de_Sénart.jpg|thumb|364x364px|A 1912 illustration of the Bonnot Gang stealing an automobile in the [[Forest of Sénart|Forest of Senart]].]]
[[File:Ataque chantilly bonnot.jpg|thumb|Illustration of the robbery of [[Société Générale]] Bank in [[Chantilly, Oise|Chantilly]] on 25 March 1912|399x399px]]
The '''Bonnot Gang''' (''La Bande à Bonnot''), or '''The Tragic Bandits''' (''Les Bandes Tragiques''), was a French criminal [[anarchist]] group that operated in [[France]] and [[Belgium]] during the late ''[[Belle Époque]]'' from 1911 to 1912. Composed of individuals who identified with the emerging [[illegalist]] ''milieu'', the gang used new technology, such as cars and [[repeating rifle]]s not then available to the police.

The press originally referred to them as simply "The Auto Bandits", as they carried out the first motorized [[robberies]] and bank raids in world history. They have been called the "inventors of the motorized get-away".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bonnot Gang: The story of the French illegalists - Richard Parry {{!}} libcom.org |url=https://libcom.org/article/bonnot-gang-story-french-illegalists-richard-parry |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=libcom.org |language=en}}</ref>  The group also earned the moniker ''Les bandes tragiques'' from the press due to a sense of the group's "desperate courage", who were painted as [[tragicomic]] figures for their [[working-class]] origins and espoused anarchist politics.<ref name=":0" /> Ultimately, the gang became known by the title of "The Bonnot Gang" after [[Jules Bonnot]] gave an interview at the office of ''[[Le Petit Parisien]]'', a popular daily paper. Bonnot's perceived prominence within the group was later reinforced by his high-profile death during a [[shootout]] with French police in [[Choisy-le-Roi]].

While many of the gang's members originated from regions across France and Belgium, such as [[Lyon]], [[Brussels]], [[Charleroi]], and [[Alais]], they congregated in the city of [[Paris]]. Only some decades after the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871 and the wave of [[Propaganda of the deed|anarchist terrorism of the 1890s]], and not long after the General Strike of 1906 organized by the ''[[Confédération Générale du Travail]]'' (CGT),  Paris was a hotbed of anarchist debate and organizing, with ongoing bitter disagreements between the [[anarcho-individualists]] (such as the illegalists) and [[anarcho-communists]] and [[anarcho-syndicalists]].<ref name=":0" />

== Crime spree ==
[[File:Recueil._Procès_de_la_bande_à_Bonnot_aux_assises_de_la_Seine_à_Paris,_du_3_au_27_février_1913)_(lot_de_photographies_de_presse)_(Agence_Meurisse)_03-05_(btv1b90773755).jpg|thumb|[[Courtroom photography and broadcasting|Courtroom photo]] from the Bonnot Gang mass trial at the [[Palais de Justice, Paris|Palais du Justice]], February 3-27, 1913.|341x341px]]
The first robbery by Bonnot's Gang was on 21 December 1911 at the AB Branch of [[Société Générale]] Bank, located at 148 rue Ordener in the [[18th arrondissement of Paris|18th Arrondissement]] of Paris. They shot a collection clerk in the neck and lung (yet he survived) and snatched his cash bags.<ref name="skedaddle">{{cite web |title="Skedaddle!" The Bonnot Gang targets Societe Generale |url=https://www.societegenerale.com/en/about-us/our-identity/150-years-of-history/team-spirit/the-bonnot-gang-targets-societe-generale |website=Societe Generale |date=10 January 2017 |access-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20140820060056/https://www.societegenerale.com/en/about-us/our-identity/150-years-of-history/team-spirit/the-bonnot-gang-targets-societe-generale|archive-date=2014-08-20}}</ref>

On 25 March 1912, the gang stole a [[de Dion-Bouton]] automobile in [[the Forest of Sénart]] south of Paris by shooting the driver through the heart.<ref name=":0">Richard Parry, ''The Bonnot Gang: Story of the French Illegalists'' (Rebel Press, 1987), {{ISBN|978-0-946061-04-4}}.</ref> They drove into [[Chantilly, Oise|Chantilly]], north of Paris, where they robbed the local branch of Société Générale Bank, and fatally shot two bank cashiers and severely wounded a bookkeeper.<ref name="skedaddle" />

Sûreté Chief [[Xavier Guichard]] took the matter personally. Even politicians became concerned, increasing police funding by 800,000 francs. Banks began to prepare for forthcoming robberies and many cashiers armed themselves. The Société Générale promised a reward of 100,000 francs for information that would lead to arrests.<ref name="skedaddle"/>

== Members ==

[[File:Alcuni membri della Banda Bonnot.jpg|thumb|Some members of the Bonnot gang, including (from top left): [[Eugène Dieudonné]], [[Jules Bonnot]], Antoine Gauzy, Arthur Mallet, Pierre Cardi, Marius Metge, Edouard Carouy, [[Octave Garnier]], René Valet, Joseph Renard, [[Émile Bachelet]], [[Louis Rimbault]], [[Marie Vuillemin]], André Soudy, [[Étienne Monier]], Raymond Callemin, [[Jean de Boë|Jean De Boë]], and Bernard Godoresky.|370x370px]]

=== Gang members included ===
{{div col}}
* Émile Bachelet
* {{Ill|Barthélémy Baraille|fr}}
* {{Ill|David Bélonie|fr}}
* {{Ill|Kléber Bénard|fr}}
* {{Ill|Émile Bill|fr}}
* [[Jules Bonnot]]
* {{Ill|Raymond Callemin|fr}}
* {{Ill|Édouard Carouy|fr}}
* {{Ill|Henri Crozat de Fleury|fr}}
* [[Jean de Boë]]
* {{Ill|Jean Dettweiller|fr}}
* [[Eugène Dieudonné]]
* [[Anna Dondon]]
* {{Ill|Jean Dubois (anarchist)|fr|Jean Dubois (anarchiste)}}
* [[Octave Garnier]]
* {{Ill|Antoine Gauzy|fr}}
* {{Ill|Bernard Gorodesky|fr}}
* {{Ill|Boniface Grau|fr}}
* {{Ill|Louise Hutteaux|fr}}
* {{Ill|Pierre Jourdan (anarchist)|lt=Pierre Jourdan|fr|Pierre Jourdan (anarchiste)}}
* [[Victor Serge]]
* [[Barbe Le Clerch]]
* [[Rirette Maîtrejean]]
* {{Ill|Marius Metge|fr}}
* [[Étienne Monier]]
* {{Ill|Jean-Baptiste Pancrazi|fr}}
* {{Ill|Joseph Platano|fr}}
* {{Ill|Jean-Marcel Poyer|fr}}
* {{Ill|Charles Reinert|fr}}
* [[Louis Rimbault]]
* {{Ill|Léon Rodriguez|fr}}
* {{Ill|André Soudy|fr}}
* {{Ill|Judith Thollon|fr}}
* {{Ill|René Valet|fr}}
* [[Marie Vuillemin]]
{{div col end}}

=== Mugshots of Bonnot Gang members ===
<gallery>
File:Jules-bonnot.png|[[Jules Bonnot]], shot dead by law enforcement officers in France
File:Octave-garnier.png|[[Octave Garnier]], shot while unconscious during a police raid on his [[safe house]].
File:CALLEMIN attitude trois-quarts casquette.jpg|[[Raymond Callemin]], executed by [[guillotine]]
File:Etienne MONIER Bande à Bonnot.jpg|[[Étienne Monier]], executed by guillotine
File:SOUDY.jpg|{{Ill|André Soudy|fr}}, executed by guillotine
File:Edouard CAROUY Bande à Bonnot IJ.jpg|[[Edouard Carouy]], nicknamed "Leblanc," sentenced to [[Life imprisonment|life in prison]] but died immediately after sentencing using a [[Suicide pill|cyanide pill]] hidden in his shoe.
</gallery>

== See more ==
* [[Anarchism in France]]
* [[Anarchism in Belgium]]
* ''[[:fr:La Bande à Bonnot (film)|La Bande à Bonnot]]'', 1968 film {{In lang|fr}}
* [[Flavio Costantini]], Italian painter who featured the Bonnot Gang in his works
* ''[[Les Brigades du Tigre]]''
* [[Expropriative anarchism]]
* [[Illegalism]]
* [[Individualist anarchism]]
* [[Left-wing terrorism]]
* [[Propaganda of the deed]]
* ''[[Les Vampires]]'', 1915–16 serial

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Cacucci, Pino (2006). ''Without a Glimmer of Remorse''. ChristieBooks. {{ISBN|1-873976-28-3}}.
* Imrie, Doug (1994). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150908072801/http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/illegalistsDougImrie.htm ''The Illegalists'']. [[Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed]].
* {{cite book |last=Merriman |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Merriman |year=2017 |title=Ballad of the Anarchist Bandits: The Crime Spree that Gripped Belle Epoque Paris |publisher=[[Nation Books]] |isbn=978-1568589886}}
* Parry, Richard (1987). ''[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/richard-parry-the-bonnot-gang-the-story-of-the-french-illegalists Bonnot Gang: Story of the French Illegalists]''. Rebel Press. {{ISBN|978-0-946061-04-4}}. Available at [[libcom.org]].

=== Film ===
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEA0ogSTNr4 Bandits en automobile], 1912 [[docudrama]] by [[Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset]] 
* [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12nan Episode of Val-de-Marne TV ''Histories of the Marne'' dedicated to the Bonnot Gang]

== External links ==

* {{Commonscatinline}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Illegalists]]
[[Category:Defunct anarchist organizations in France]]
[[Category:Defunct anarchist militant groups]]
[[Category:French bank robbers]]
[[Category:Motor vehicle theft]]
[[Category:Gangs in France]]
[[Category:1911 in France]]
[[Category:1912 in France]]
[[Category:Left-wing militant groups in France]]
[[Category:Belle Époque]]
[[Category:French anarchists]]
[[Category:Belgian anarchists]]
[[Category:Individualist anarchists]]
[[Category:Attacks on commercial buildings in France]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1910s]]
[[Category:1910s crimes in France]]