Chapter Text
prologue
Table of Content
Introduction
Three years separate us now from the infamous heist of the Royal Mint of Spain. For nine days, Madrid, Spain, Europe, and the World watched as a group of thieves clad in red and masked in Dalí took 67 hostages inside the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, and kept them for 128 hours before the police force swept in and the thieves escaped with what's estimated to be one billion euro. One billion euros which the thieves printed themselves in the duration of nine days, with the help of the hostages-workers (it can be noted that their work ethic was so impressive that a Royal Mint employee chose to escape with them.) There are three casualties we know of from the thieves, the last of which has been the subject of much speculation in those years: Berlín. The commander. On the fourth day, the police found incriminating DNA that unmasked him. From behind the mask, emerged Andrés de Fonollosa.
What was Andrés de Fonollosa? A revolutionary, a hero of old, a communist, a fascist, an anarchist? A manipulative criminal, a sympathetic villain? A rapist, a pimp? A tragic hero, a monster, a sociopath? The question has been asked in many rooms across the past years, in police divisions, in newspapers editorial offices, in Media outlets, and in our homes. Uncounted interviews have been conducted—all but fifteen hostages have appeared on television or in print in total, seperate or in small groups, to give their testimonies and to feed the curiosity of a nation that had been left with an open-ending with the disappearance of the living Dalís—and even though there was no open-ending for Berlín, for Andrés de Fonollosa , he’s been—some would say naturally—the direct subject of most of the testimonies; he was, after all, the commander, executioner, and assumed brains behind the flawlessly brilliant heist. What was Andrés de Fonollosa? Asked one interviewer after the other.
A question that hasn't been asked enough, however, is who was Andrés de Fonollosa. For two years, our team has traveled across Europe in search of that answer. We've seeked those who knew him before he was a Dalí, before his name was Berlín, in the belief that we will have it there. We've met with acquaintances, neighbors, teachers, friends, lovers, co-workers, and family. To all of them, we had one question; who was Andrés de Fonollosa? It became apparent with every new interview, however, that the answer wasn't a straightforward one. It only added to our list; a Romantic, a pessimist, a thief, a hardworking man, a traitor, a loyalist, a flawed father, a good son…one thing was clear: Andrés de Fonollosa refused the clarification. Much of the information, not just the depictions, regarding him here is contradictory.
With those paradoxical accounts, he forced us to confront a kaleidoscopic figure, a contradiction in the flesh, a myth, nearly. He became the face of chaos, of freedom; of a country, of a city, of an era. Ones that are perhaps equally kaleidoscopic to him. We understood then his elusivity of definition. Most of all, by making us confront his humanity, his monstrosity, and his contradictions, Andrés de Fonollosa forced us to confront our own.
For this reason, this book refuses to trap him in definitions. It refuses to challenge his elusiveness. You'll not find our commentaries or conclusions. For the one gift Andrés offered us, we offer you: you must draw it on your own. Here are the full—nearly intact—transcripts of the interviews with the men and women who knew him at his best and his worst, who knew him in childhood and in maturity; the ones who left him behind and the ones who were left behind by him; the ones who loved him and the ones who despised him. Through them, we meet Andrés.
-Martín Berrote
Martín Berrote is the Editor-in-chief in El País. He is the two-time recipient of the King of Spain's Awards for Narrative Journalism and Cultural Journalism . He is the author of Gold and Chaos: Corruption in the Heart of Spain, Deadly Solitude: The Making of Spain's Most Effective Anarchist and What Really Happened Inside The Royal Mint of Spain? Revolution, Paper Money, and Anarchism. The Invention of Andrés de Fonollosa is his fourth book.
To protect the privacy and anonymity of individuals, some names, characters, events, occupations, places of residence, and identifiable characteristics have been changed, invented, and/or altered.
Interviews have been minimally edited for clarity.