A murder trial opened in Paris last week with 22 defendants and a premise that sounds invented: killings and beatings allegedly commissioned through an internal dispute inside a Freemasonry lodge in Puteaux, just outside the city. Among those in the dock, according to France 24: four active DGSE foreign intelligence officers, two cops, a former DGSI counterintelligence official, corporate executives, and at least one professional killer. Of the 22, five are in custody and 16 on supervised release.
A investigators reconstruct it: Jean-Luc Bagur, a member of the Athanor lodge in Puteaux, paid fellow lodge member Frédéric Vaglio €70,000 ($80,600) to eliminate a rival. Vaglio, 53, allegedly brought in Daniel Beaulieu — retired from domestic intelligence — who organized the violence below. Beaulieu's hit squad leader, known only as Leroy, reportedly confessed in police custody to most of the network's beatings, robberies, and killings. All three organizers could get life sentences.
Laurent Pasquali, a racing driver, turned up dead in a forest in 2018, reportedly killed over a debt owed to Vaglio's associates. A sports coach and a union official were also targeted, both of whom were connected to the same internal lodge conflict. Lawyers say proceedings could stretch over three months.
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