Night Fox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may contain original research or unattributed claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details. |
 |
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. Please help recruit one or improve this article yourself. See the talk page for details. Please consider using {{Expert-subject}} to associate this request with a WikiProject |
David Renard, more popularly known as the Night Fox, is a freelance assassin and contract killer who either died in 1994, or retired at that time and is still alive.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The Night Fox, as Renard was most commonly known, was an assassin who worked internationally on a contract basis in the 1970s and 1980s. Though he also went by the name of David Renard, it is presumed that this name is also a pseudonym, as renard is the French word for fox. Other notable pseudonyms or code-names include Le renard de la nuit (French), Der Nachtfuchs (German), and La volpe della notte (Italian). Nearing the end of his career (or life), Renard may have dropped the Night Fox moniker and adopted the name of Le Hibou (The Owl, in French). Many details of Renard's life and work are considered exaggerated or even apocryphal, but his existence is generally acknowledged as fact (and sometimes even fervently defended) by many within the international intelligence and law-enforcement communities.
[edit] Personality
The Night Fox was known by his associates and clients as a calm, even-headed and dispassionate individual who accepted and delivered his contracts without moral compunction or even any visible reaction. His lack of emotional or ideological response to his work suggests that he may have had blunted affect or antisocial personality disorder (commonly known as psychopathy). In contrast to the brutal character of his work, he was usually soft-spoken and genteel, though cold, in his interactions with people. He commonly dressed only in black, even when wearing conventional "street" clothing, and usually wore gloves when seen in public. Combined with his greater-than-ordinary attention to neatness and order, the Night Fox's wearing of gloves indicated to some that he may have had obsessive-compulsive disorder, though the gloves may have simply been a way for him to avoid leaving fingerprints. Physically, he was a caucasian male between 1.75 and 1.80 metres in height, of an athletic build, with short dark hair.
Virtually nothing is known about Renard's origins, personal background, or early life. His average and unassuming appearance undoubtedly aided his ability to remain anonymous throughout his life and career. His speech, as well, was carefully concealed, as he spoke with a careful combination of British Received Pronunciation and American Standard Midwestern accents, which gave no indication of his country of origin. The Night Fox did, however, display remarkable intelligence, mental and physical reflexes, and attention to detail, traits that certainly must have served him well in his work. He also appeared to be profoundly knowledgeable in subjects outside of his chosen field, suggesting a level of education that reached at least the university level.
[edit] Career
It is not known how the Night Fox first began his career as an assassin, although this ambiguity most likely arises from the possibility of several name-changes. There is dispute as to his origins, as his apparent high degree of education contradicts the typical stereotype of the contract assassin or "hitman". Such a stereotype includes young men from lower-class families, driven out of desperation or fantasy into career killing, often working under the umbrella of an organized crime operation.
In any case, the Night Fox's most prominent career phase was his tenure as a long-term contract operative of the American Central Intelligence Agency. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, he was known to have been the CIA's contractor of choice for deniable "executive action" assignments. Though proficient in all forms of "termination of life" from contact range (e.g., with a garrote, knife, or bare-handed) to medium-range (using conventional firearms) to long range (using long-range precision rifles), including the use of poisons and other methods of unconventional assassination, the Night Fox had a dislike of explosives. This preference has been attributed to many causes (including psychological or personal reasons), but is often interpreted as an extension of his "clean" work ethic, since explosions cause unnecessary collateral damage and rarely leave an intact corpse with which to confirm the identity of the target.
One of the Night Fox's most prominent "claims to fame" is his kill count (known as a résumé). Even the lowest estimate, at 106 kills, places him high above other notable modern assassins, though the highest (and likely apocryphal) estimates, which range from 130 to 150 kills, have elevated him to mythical status.
[edit] Attempted CIA assassination
In 1990, as the Cold War was drawing to an end, the CIA deemed Renard a "credible threat to national security", presumably based upon his substantial history with, and knowledge of, American intelligence operations, as well as his lack of any apparent loyalties and his potentially dangerous skills. Most likely, though, the Central Intelligence Agency simply had no longer use for him, and concluded that it would be more prudent to eliminate such a security risk than to allow him to remain at large.
The specifics of the CIA's attempted assassination of the Night Fox are sparse, but certain details are clear: the CIA dispatched a team of their own, government-employed assassins from the Special Activities Division of the Directorate of Operations (known at the time as "wet boys" or "wet workers"), with the intention of assassinating Renard at his home in Paris, France while he slept- precisely the kind of task that Renard himself had performed many times. The Night Fox, whether already alerted to the operation or simply awoken from his sleep, successfully evaded the attack and in turn killed the entire team of his intended assassins.
Details of this incident range from plausible to utterly fantastic. The most conservative version states that Renard had been previously forewarned by a friendly contact, and when a two-man team of CIA assassins entered his home, he quickly shot and killed both of them with his own weapon. More popular versions of the story place the Night Fox in his bed when four to six assassins entered, with Renard suddenly awakening, disarming, and then killing the assassins with improvised weapons or no weapons at all. Regardless of the details, the incident has contributed greatly to the Night Fox's legendary renown.
Shortly after the attempted assassination, many suspect that the Night Fox switched to a new French pseudonym, Le Hibou.
[edit] The name
The most common variation of the Night Fox pseudonym, the French Le renard de la nuit, along with the fact that Renard's name is French for fox, suggest that Renard himself may have been French. In addition, the Night Fox is known to have lived in Paris several times during his life, further fueling this speculation.
Interestingly, the 2004 film Ocean's Twelve features a French cat burglar named François Toulour (played by Vincent Cassel), who also goes by the pseudonym of The Nightfox (spelled as a single word). Whether this is a subtle reference to the assassin or simply coincidental is unknown.
[edit] Suspected death and current status
Unverified accounts claim that the Night Fox died in Paris in 1994, from benign causes ranging from automobile accident to stroke. However, alternate theories claim that Renard instead retired in that year, and is instead alive and well, though his current whereabouts are entirely unknown.
