Christopher R. Browning, one of the greatest academic experts on the Holocaust, asks in a devastating work, Those Gray Men (Edhasa), how civilized parents, middle-class professionals and charming neighbors could form the Battalion in Nazi Germany. 101. This paramilitary unit was in charge of massacring the Jews surprised by Hitler in his advance towards the East.
The American historian’s response would also serve the Castelldefels pack. There are people with social and family roots, with culture and studies, without economic problems, who seem like the ideal of political correctness and who, however, hide a surprise in the last figure of the matryoshka, the most hidden. The five accused of Castelldefels could be at the same time very loving sons and textbook misogynists.
The emptying of the group’s cell phones has uncovered their insensitivity towards the opposite sex and at the same time the devotion that almost all of them felt for their mothers. The same people who idolized those who gave birth to them could consider other women as objects to be shared, used and thrown away. Regarding this practice, one of the members of the group ironically said: “Let’s see if you believe that you are going to bring a paella and you are going to eat it yourself.”
They called home from the police station in search of arnica and consolation (“I’m innocent, Mom”). They were on the verge of “fainting,” with “heartburn, dizziness, anxiety, and difficulty eating and sleeping” because of the “disgust” they could cause their mothers (“imagine if she finds out”). Those same people considered dedicating themselves to amateur porn films, “since we would earn a lot of money and the girl would surely accept.”
They were also the same ones who recorded, objectified and harassed women: “I don’t even touch that one with a stick or a laser pointer.” The same ones who, with their group and extreme practices, caused them to vomit or other physiological reactions (“it took all the nougat out of them”) without an iota of remorse, guilt or humanity. The same ones who considered it stupid to have the opportunity and not take advantage of it: “Have you gone for a threesome or as a romper?”
La Vanguardia has already analyzed the whatsaps that were exchanged, but the material is endless: “What we did was very brutal”, “If this comes to light it will give a very bad image of the group”, “What a disgusting aunt”, “There is to raise the bar for guests at our parties”, “She is a fat woman with tits like snakes”, “She weighs 100 kilos”… But her devoted filial love and her rampant misogyny were not her only contradictions…
They boasted of their muscles and power. The year was going well, one said, because he had already had “six different sexual partners.” From their dialogues it is deduced that they were premature ejaculators, with frequent triggers and that despite their gym physique and their age (between 30 and 36 years old) they take drugs against erectile dysfunction, such as tadalafil, or other pills (“Won’t you have viagra, buy me a box and I’ll give you the money?”).
They went “hunting” or “fishing.” In their K-Team La Manada Returns chat there were 19 members: the five detainees and 14 more men. One of the latter made their behavior ugly, according to the Gavà Mossos investigation unit: “The group’s behavior is the same as always. They see a vulnerable girl and take advantage of her to have sex with her.” Another specified: “A pack with a disabled and drunk girl.”
“When I’m really drunk and horny, it’s your time.” They had raids in Castelldefels, of course (with the epicenter in an apartment on Pompeu Fabra street), but also in Sitges, Lloret, Sabadell, Terrassa, Cornellà de Llobregat and Barcelona. The girls were interchangeable, they could be passed from one to another. All, except their own partners (“I couldn’t have a girlfriend who had been with my friends”).
They functioned as an “organized group,” says the judge. They could take turns doing everything, without reproaches. As soon as they were known to have been investigated, however, the first dissensions arose. “Stop saying stupid things and judging me, because in the end I will report you for slander.” “I don’t like what you said in the statement.” “You’re already getting into trouble.” They sank deeper and deeper and continued to display their absolute immaturity.
When speculation arises about who would go to jail and who would not, someone in the group explains that “that will be known when the game starts.” What game? “The squid game.” It wasn’t the worst. Another suggested they contact his lawyer. “What lawyer?” “The one I have hanging here?” The little jokes were interrupted at a stroke and gave way to accusations when they saw that the Mossos were serious.
One of the five who would end up in prison blames the others for their lack of support. “Why are you against me?” “Because they were your captures,” in supposed allusion to the photos and videos that he had on his phone. The old friendship and complicity fell apart. Someone says to the one caught: “I would like you to take an intelligence test to see your IQ.” But he is not the only scapegoat.
They demanded from another of the accused: “You tell the truth and stop making up stories, eh?”, to which he replies: “Your story, you made three videos and you say you make one. The police know this and if you are going to tell them [a lie] be prepared for what is good.” From his own words it is deduced that there could be more crimes and more victims. One who says that he was not there is reminded that “you were there with the Brazilian women.”
They were big men for orgies and trios, for singing their exploits, but when they saw themselves surrounded they became distressed and looked for mom’s skirts. “It’s a thing of the past, I haven’t done anything,” one of those who are now in prison told him. “That’s what you have to do. I already know you haven’t done anything,” she responded, not showing a single doubt about what her son could have done and blaming women (“I don’t know how there are girls like that”).
“You up. Don’t break down,” insisted the mother, who at that moment the only thing that seemed to worry her (it was 10:15 a.m. on November 26, 2021) was that her son would not leave the police station before 2 p.m. and would have problems with work (“you tell them that on Friday you come in an hour early”). “And you calm down. No problem. You have done nothing. You please tell them that you have to go to work. You’ll see how they leave you.”
And they left it. Him and all the suspects. They were released after testifying at the police station, but the Mossos continued collecting evidence that the head of court number 5 of Gavà, Laia Boix de Gispert, considered compelling when they were arrested and brought to justice, a year later, on December 22. All five have been in prison since then. Loving children, gray men.
