She loves him so much that she tattooed his name, Gony, on her right wrist. On her left wrist, Angelina (first name changed) has inscribed her own diminutive, "Angie." The ink was still fresh, her skin reddened by the pricks of the needle. The teenager, 16 or 17 at most, proudly shared the result on TikTok, using heart emojis: "Ti amo amore mio." The girl has the appearance of a reality TV star, with fake blonde hair, bright lipstick and drawn-on eyebrows.

Her life unfolds on TikTok in a whirl of videos, set to the backdrop of melancholic Bosnian love songs. Angie on vacation in Barcelona, smoking hookah. Angie with her little sister. Angie in front of the Eiffel Tower with her Gony, a dark-haired, baby-faced boy with a peach fuzz mustache. Angie holding a wad of cash. Angie in a high-speed car traveling at 240 km/h on the freeway. Angie with one man showing off a pistol tucked into his belt. Angie with another, grinning smugly as he brandishes two hammers like weapons ready to strike...

Angelina is not your average teenager. She doesn't go to school. In her family, no one does. The H. clan, of Bosnian origin, has different ambitions for their many children: stealing, whether on the Paris metro, the RER commuter trains, at Disneyland Paris or Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. Preferably from foreign tourists, who stock up on cash upon arriving in France. A hand discreetly slipped into a bag, a passenger pressed close enough to reach their wallet, and voilà! The pickpockets vanish as soon as the train doors close.

More often than not, the thieves are young women, whose polished appearance is a long way from the stereotypical image of the Roma women some put forward. What better way to blend in than by looking like any other girl the same age? On a good day, the clan can amass up to €5,000 in "income." It's a seemingly easy and carefree life, though not exactly above board. In the videos, Angelina is rarely without her Gucci belt. Social media provides a showcase for her tawdry happiness.

Sprawling organization

The reality was more obvious in the charges brought in March against six leaders of Roberto H.'s clan, which Angelina is part of: "organized theft," "money laundering," "criminal conspiracy" and "human trafficking." That month, the network was dismantled by the juvenile protection brigade after a series of arrests concluding two years of investigation. It was just in time for the Olympic Games celebrations, which saw thousands of visitors parading through Paris all summer, to make sure they were not spoiled by too-agile hands.

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