Les Voyous

Frank151 spoke with Jérôme Pierrat in an effort to better understand the history of the French Underworld. Pierrat is a freelance journalist with over 19 years of experience. He is the Editor in Chief of Tatouage Magazine and author of Illustrated Men: The Roots of Tattoo. A specialist in criminology, Pierrat also wrote A Story of the Underworld: Violent Crimes and Mafia in France from 1850 until Today.

Frank151: How would you describe the Underworld “à la Française”?
Jérôme Pierrat : The Underworld, or French Organized Crime, is arranged horizontally. This means that there’s no hierarchy, no pyramid like the Cosa Nostra or the classic US Crime Organizations of Chicago and New York. While some mafia activity does exist in France, it plays out in the areas closer to Italy. The influx of Eastern European and Asian immigrants has also lead to the establishment of organized crime rooted in those cultures. That aside, the French Underworld is based more on the individual. There is no “Godfather” figure, though there are important “Heads”. Anyone who tries to become a Godfather is murdered before they can do so. Crime is localized in each area (Marseille, Lyon, etcetera) so most of the territories and the repartitions are smaller and easier to manage, unlike Paris which is too big and has too many districts to be controlled by one group.

F151: What was the main activity in the old French Underworld? Was there a French “savoir-faire”?
JP: Pimping was the main “savoir-faire” in France. Pimping is interesting because it involves a long chain of elements. The pimping “Network” was built on the pimp and the girls. Their home base was usually a bar in the neighborhood. The owner of the hotel was the keeper, who managed the rooms for the girls, and finally the “Placier” found strategic pimping spots. It was a Network because it functioned like a closed world or a circle. This circle also attracted burglars, gamblers, and other undesirable elements. The French Underworld is the sum of these types of circles. The prostitution “savoir-faire”, known as the la traite des blanches (“treat of the whites”) made France the world champion of pimping! Pimps and prostitutes left France by way of Antwerp and spread out to the four corners of the world. But the Eastern European and Asian networks saw the potential in pimping and moved in.  After World War II, the trade slowed down in France, and in 1946 most of the whore houses and brothels closed. The 1970s saw the end of the golden age of the French Pimp. Sex hotels shut down as laws were made stricter. As a result, girls became independent, working by telephone, minitel and internet out of their one bedroom apartments. The pie became too small to share. Nowadays there are very few conflicts between pimps because there’s no widespread competition, it’s too local. That’s the gist of the French pimping system.


F151: How was the Parisian Underworld created?
JP: In Paris and Marseille, at the end of the 19th century, Baron Haussmann’s transformation of narrow French streets into larger boulevards gave rise to “Pleasure Districts”. The lout, or criminal, was attracted to leisure and entertainment, that’s how he made his living! In the Old France, when the great walls were still intact, every village outside of Paris was full of louts. The smaller Underworlds were controlled by a head who gained local support with his charm, while still holding the fear and respect of the people. Separate villages were lumped together during the urbanization of Paris, concentrating all the louts in a few Pleasure Districts. The heads of these villages merged as a type of city council, to share Paris. But the whole system changed around the time of World War I. Rural depopulation brought thousands of peasants into Paris. All the communities shared the capital city, Britons took over Montparnasse, people from Corsica and Marseille took Pigalle. With a newfound enthusiasm for the French capital, the lout from the countryside was making himself known and taking risks. There was a lot of movement between the south of France and Paris, in both directions via the PLM railway.

F151: What role does personal appearance play in the Underworld?
JP: The lout’s style is rooted in popular culture, and there is variation depending on region. With the lout’s migration to Paris, the codes changed. Initially, each work trade had its own style, identifying  specific louts by way of certain garments and accessories. Tattoos and the use of slang were also very important in shaping the lout’s identity.

A new style appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, called the “barrier prowler”. It consisted of a cap, a scarf, slippers and a bolt. Chicago Gangster fashion arrived in the 1920s and took the Underworld by storm, thanks to newspaper articles and films about famous American criminals. The French lout transformed himself into a copy of the American gangster, but outsiders continued to describe him as a “barrier prowler” until the 1930s. French gangsters knew they had to up their appearance and blend in with the commoners. The suit and tie became the norm, along with the “Borsalino” hat, all far from the rebellious and revolutionary style. The importance of the lout’s appearance demonstrated his dedication to the job. He had to demonstrate class and good behavior while still commanding respect. The lout now had a reputation to uphold. Jean Gabin films illustrate the importance of the clothing code, a style that represented the Underworld at this point in time. The French Underworld is really conservative and classic in its codes and practices, as was the society it operated in.