80s and 90s: when Angoulême nightclubs flambé for good

“There was fire on the slopes. Nevertheless, It was the time when the twinks were heating up in front of the top 50 clips before putting on the santiags. In addition, the perfecto, abusing Gomina and whistling pastaga. Therefore, The girls had tall sizes, bananas and Creoles. In addition, John Travolta was already a dinosaur and Mickaël Jackson was not yet white! Moreover, It was the 80s and the Angoumois night was soaring!

Ten nightclubs and thousands of glitter. Similarly, At the time, we went out at Kings, at the little Maxim’s, on the retro piano already. Consequently, There was also the old house, the lake of the pines, the sphinx, the monocle, the barge! Moreover, The riverside and the night of the kings invited themselves to the ball. Nevertheless, Two vessels that have gone to conquer the night and the money who was brewing there. In addition, Capacity of 1,500 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs people for each. Consequently, Every Saturday, the two monsters had a full belly! For example, All these boxes have soared. In addition, First embers in February 1984. For example, It was the riverside of Jean-Paul Decroix, Boulevard Besson-Bey, which dies in the night. Nevertheless, Criminal fire. Similarly, Intrusion by roofs, petrol, match. In addition, A lot of ash.

The shadow of the Var environment

The phenomenon is racing at the turn of the 90s. Similarly, wins the countryside and the city. Nevertheless, Successively burned the cyclops. For example, the part of the angels, the night of the kings, the riverside still, the retro piano, the little max, the must, the gordon. Furthermore, All of these fires are criminals. Consequently, None have been resolved. Therefore, No one went to court.

An old policewoman recalls. Therefore, “At the time, there were not the technical means today. Consequently, When we arrived, everything had burned, there was no more evidence. 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs Moreover, We were looking for, in vain. Nevertheless, Then the insurances entered the dance, reimbursed the guy and it was over. »»

The mystery favored rumors, fantasies. Fears too. Settlements of accounts, insurance, racketeering. We were talking about white trafficking and white trafficking, too. Two names shivered: Patrick Sposito and Alain Vacca. “The Toulonnais”.

Two men arrived with pockets full of tickets with the ambition to install the “most beautiful nightclub in Europe” in. Angoulême! It will be “the night of kings”. At the same time, Patrick Sposito had bought the Château de Torsac. Why Angoulême? Where did the money come from? Unanswered questions.

The beautiful box, they mounted it. The show biz has grown there. Music cut in April 1989. One Sunday morning, when closed, the Marseille Stups brigade picks Patrick Sposito and his partner. They fall within the framework of an international traffic case to the dream cast. All balanced by a repentant of the French Connection. In the Lot. Louis Régnier, known 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs as Loulou, godfather of the Toulon environment, a figure of the after-war banditry, support from Maurice Arreckx, the mayor of Toulon. For investigators at the time, the night of the kings was used to whiten the benefits of drug trafficking. After years of pre-trial detention, all the protagonists have benefited from a dismissal.

Following the arrest of Patrick Sposito, the night of the kings will never put his crown back. And in June 1990, when it has just been sold at auction, it burned. Two fire starts, intrusion. Who benefits from the crime? The box had been bought a misery compared to its value: 250,000 euros when the fund was estimated at more than 1.5 million. The night of the kings burned a week before the signing of its resale. Difficult to consider the coup in insurance under these conditions. Revenge of former owners? Interest that the Gond-Pontouvre cash machine never 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs reopens?

80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs

Three boxes close, the NPA opens!

The following year. three other discos burned: the riverside, now held by a rugby trio of the Sporting Club of Angoulême, then the little Maxim’s and the retro piano, place Victor-Hugo. “Because of these fires, no more insurance wanted us!” We had to go through a box of London, ”describes Jean-Paul Decroix. Too hot to ensure an Angoumois disco.

The night of kings has never been bought. The riverside has not reopened. Neither did the little max. And in 1993, at the exit of Angoulême, it was a huge nightclub that opened its doors to Sainte-Catherine. Owner: Le Toulonnais Alain Vacca. Name: “The nowhere else”, this time stamped again “more beautiful box in Europe”! The chronology challenges. But nothing has ever been proven.

A former elected official of Garat remembers: “As we did not want to welcome them. they were made to 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs them crazy in terms of security. To cool them. They did not have done anything on anything. Have accepted everything, until you pay a tour of the departmental road! »»

The fires will resume in 1995 and 1996. Le Must, Boulevard Besson-Bey, and the Gordon, in Montauzier, fly away in smoke.

An elder from the middle of the night of the time analyzes: “In this environment, you crash at two periods. When you go to the wall or when you walk too well. »Translate: when you want to defraud your insurance or when the competition wants to put you in step.

In Angoulême, it is obvious, account settlements rocked at night. Some have certainly taken advantage of the smoke screen to redo on the back of insurance. Fifteen to twenty years later, a thick smoke of mystery still surrounds this series. And the nights are much less hot.

At the time, the 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs star of the boxes was…. Commissioner!

This era. it was also that where Angoulême had the most rock’n’roll commissioner in France: Commissioner Izombard, icon of Charente nights, who became an example not to follow at the police school. Nickname of the Monsieur Police: “Zonzon”. “It was the Far West!” He landed, took bottles. When he was drunk, he took out his gun, ”recalls a former box boss.
The legend says that a more watered evening than another. he would have relieved a few bullets in the ceiling of the Péniche, the disco on the water moored at the port of the Houmeau.

Dates

February 20, 1984. Riverside fire, Boulevard Besson-Bey.
January 21, 1988. Criminal fire at the Cyclops in Foussignac.
September 14, 1989. The part of the angels burns in Barbezieux.
July 6, 1990. An explosion causes a gigantic fire at the Night of the Kings, Route de Vars in Gond-Pontouvre. The establishment 80s 90s: when angoulême nightclubs had been closed since the arrest of Patrick Sposito.
June 21, 1991. Second fire at the Riverside.
August 5, 1991. A fire completely destroys the little max, rue Saint-Roch, then spread to the retro piano
January 1995. It’s the turn of the must, Boulevard Besson-Bey, to finish in ashes. It belonged to Jean-Yves Grenouilleau, also owner of the Péniche and the Gordon.
December 1996. Gordon fire, in Montauzier, the day before its auction.