Interview with Emmanuel Caldier, alias Manu Gitan

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Emmanuel Caldier, alias Manu Gitan. I am now 57 years old and have had a completely atypical life.

When I was eight years old, I ended up on the streets, but it was my own choice to leave. It wasn’t my father who kicked me out. My father was a banker. I grew up with traveling people.

After that, I went to school on a boat and sailed a lot, but I quickly ran away from that system. I came back, and at the age of 15, I ended up for the first time at the CJD, the center for young offenders in Fleury-Mérogis.

What happened next?

My journey has been a bit extraordinary, but complicated at the same time, because I’ve always been in trouble.

I learned mechanics, but I also learned catering (in fact, I learned catering in prison). I went there a few times. But very quickly, I was spotted by politicians, and I started working with them.

These were what we call “barbouze” operations. Judge Eric Alphen described me as the state’s barbouze at the time. He was the one who summoned Jacques Chirac. I worked in quite a few African countries and Yugoslavia on behalf of the French state.

Between banditry and awareness

I also did quite a few jobs for myself: robberies, things like that. But around the age of 28/30, I was really fed up. I thought a lot about the victims, the victims of everything we did in banditry.

At that point, I really got into debt collection. I knew that the people I was going after, catching, kidnapping to make them pay, were basically guilty. I didn’t want to create civilian victims, I didn’t want to touch people in everyday life.

I set up security and debt collection companies, I traveled the world. I stayed in Africa for a very long time, partly because I was on the run for years in France.

“The past always catches up with us.”

The past always catches up with us. A mistake made at 16 or 18, even if it takes the justice system 5, 6, or 10 years, one day you’ll be judged. And then it’s a cold shower.

You’ve rebuilt your life, you have children… but the past always catches up with you. Everything we do today will follow us throughout our lives. A criminal record follows you for life. There are jobs you can’t do in France if you have a criminal record.

It’s something that worries me today, especially with speeding offenses, prison sentences, civil service… It’s becoming more and more complicated.

Major court cases

In 2001, there was a very big case: the kidnapping of a Swiss banker who had embezzled $220,000 from a foundation for autistic children.

That’s when I became a bit of a Robin Hood. I wrote a book published by Flammarion, Moi, Manu Gitan, which tells the story of this case.

There was also a case in Senegal, where I ended up in prison, arrested by Interpol, then extradited to France.

The relapse in 2017

In 2017, when I was settled down with my daughter, I relapsed. A friend, his wife, and other relatives had been swindled. They had sold their house and lost all their savings.

I messed up. I kidnapped someone so they would pay. That’s where the book Kidnapping en direct came from. I filmed everything, from start to finish. The scammers thought they were coming to collect €600,000 in cash. In reality, they left having paid off their old debts. But it cost me almost two years in prison. You don’t take justice into your own hands in France.

What Manu Gitan is proposing today on Nohô

Prevention, education, and support

Yes, we need to educate young people. Every day, the news shows us why. In Nice, a 20-year-old woman with a baby was shot. Today, there are families who will visit their children in prison for 20 years, and others who will mourn their children at the cemetery for the rest of their lives.

Prison is not what you see on TV. Prison destroys you, it ruins your life. Today, with DNA, wiretaps, and cameras, whatever you do, you’ll get caught. Even if you’re not caught right away. You might as well not do anything illegal, start your own small business, and try to do the right thing.