By 1943, Henri Lafont was the most powerful Frenchman in occupied Paris. Once a petty criminal running from the French police, when he found himself recruited by the Nazis his life changed for ever.

Lafont established a motley band of sadistic oddballs that became known as the French Gestapo and included ex-footballers, faded aristocrats, pimps, murderers and thieves. The gang wore the finest clothes, ate at the best restaurants and threw parties for the rich and famous out of their headquarters on the exclusive rue Lauriston.

In this vivid portrait, Christopher Othen explores how Lafont and his criminal clan rampaged across Paris through the Second World War – until the Allies liberated France, and a terrible price had to be paid.