translate English to French: These are not lunatics operating to the phases of the moon, but gangsters who see specific opportunities for crime when their profiles and vanities can receive a boost from specific occasions and places, and when they think the police will be otherwise engaged.
Ce ne sont pas le fait de déments agissant sous l’empire des phases lunaires, mais d’escrocs qui choisissent des occasions précises de faire valoir leur Gazette Vol.