Corsican & French mob

[aleksandrored]

Thanks man, I loved reading about part two too, your articles are very good.

[motorfab]

Thanks man, I loved reading about part two too, your articles are very good.

Thanks dude, glad if you like it. For the next chapter, you won't be too lost with the names, it's pretty much the same guys and the action will be set in 1952

[Villain]

Thanks man, I loved reading about part two too, your articles are very good.

Thanks dude, glad if you like it. For the next chapter, you won't be too lost with the names, it's pretty much the same guys and the action will be set in 1952

Thats a good idea, maybe you should stick to only few individuals or one prominent clan since for me personally this is all new stuff lol

[B.]

Early Sicilian pentito Melchiorre Allegra claimed that the Sicilian mafia had a presence in Marseilles in addition to Tunisia. We know the Sicilian mafia had a recognized family in Tunisia, so it makes me wonder if there was an early Sicilian mafia family in Marseilles as well given Allegra's comment.

Not directly related to Corsica but along the same lines.

[scagghiuni]

Early Sicilian pentito Melchiorre Allegra claimed that the Sicilian mafia had a presence in Marseilles in addition to Tunisia. We know the Sicilian mafia had a recognized family in Tunisia, so it makes me wonder if there was an early Sicilian mafia family in Marseilles as well given Allegra's comment.

Not directly related to Corsica but along the same lines.

behind the murder in marseille of the judge pierre michel there is probably cosa nostra

[motorfab]

Thanks man, I loved reading about part two too, your articles are very good.

Thanks dude, glad if you like it. For the next chapter, you won't be too lost with the names, it's pretty much the same guys and the action will be set in 1952

Thats a good idea, maybe you should stick to only few individuals or one prominent clan since for me personally this is all new stuff lol

Well in fact, the Vendetta trick allows me to speak about the main members of French organized crime (Corsicans or not). I had started talking about individual people in the mugshot section, but if you think it's a good idea I can continue to talk about it here, it will allow everything to be centralized in one place. I can talk about a guy or some stories.

Good idea or not ? If yes I can do it between 2 chapters or when I have finished the vendetta thing

Early Sicilian pentito Melchiorre Allegra claimed that the Sicilian mafia had a presence in Marseilles in addition to Tunisia. We know the Sicilian mafia had a recognized family in Tunisia, so it makes me wonder if there was an early Sicilian mafia family in Marseilles as well given Allegra's comment.

Not directly related to Corsica but along the same lines.

I sincerely doubt that a borgata as such will be installed in France. On the other hand, I am sure that members of LCN, Camorra or possibly Ndrangeta are in the south of France and have financial interests there (drugs or casinos for example). By doing a quick search I saw that Vito Tatagliani (I don't know him) was arrested in Marseille in 1981 and that Antonino Calderone was arrested in Nice in 1986.

I'm not quite in the south, but in the region of Grenoble (south-middle east of France, to put it simply in the Alps, not far from Italy and Switzerland) and in 1994 a guy called Calogero Pulci was arrested in my small town of 5000 inhabitants (here's the link if you're interested in reading it https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article ... 19218.html ). The region of Grenoble is famous for being a refuge for LCN guys on the run or for French gangters banned from staying by the courts in their regions.

Coming back to Marseille, even if it is not in Corsica, it is in fact a city with a very large Corsican population which immigrated at the beginning of the 20th century. and anyway mafia type activities are not reserved for Corsicans (even if they have been the majority for years). When Giovanni Maugeri of the Gambino Crime Family was deported in 1957, he was active in Milan and Marseille at the same time (which says a lot about the city's mafia activity).

behind the murder in marseille of the judge pierre michel there is probably cosa nostra

It's been a rumor for a long time that Zampa (the big boss of Marseille at the time that you know I think) had links with LCN (Gerlando Alberti ran a laboratory network with French chemists) and Camorra (he was Neapolitan). The execution of the Judge was also thought of the Italian "style".
But in fact no, it turns out that neither Zampa (who was obviously suspected) nor the Italians were involved.

Judge Michel had in fact dismantled a lab a few years before, and one of the chemists Homère Filippi, one of the big names of the French & Pizza Connection, organized the murder with a guy called François Girard (both worked for Zampa) . The two organizers of the murder and the motorcycle guys were thrown around by François Scapula, another chemist and a notorious police informer, on the off chance of an arrest in Switzerland in 1986.

Did LCN or Zampa organize the hit? It's still a possibility, but honestly I think if it was, Scapula would have thrown them around. The guy to give so much info to the cops afterwards that it would be very surprising if he didn't give them Zampa & co (even if it should be noted that Zampa had died in prison in 1984).

I suppose not everyone knows Judge Pierre Michel. To put it simply, he was a French equivalent of judges Falcone & Borsellino and he was very involved in the fight against drug traffickers. While on his way to work by motorcycle in 1981, he was assassinated in the middle of the street and in broad daylight by 2 men on a motorcycle (Charles Altiéri the driver & François Checchi the shooter)

[scagghiuni]

It's been a rumor for a long time that Zampa (the big boss of Marseille at the time that you know I think) had links with LCN (Gerlando Alberti ran a laboratory network with French chemists) and Camorra (he was Neapolitan). The execution of the Judge was also thought of the Italian "style".
But in fact no, it turns out that neither Zampa (who was obviously suspected) nor the Italians were involved.

Judge Michel had in fact dismantled a lab a few years before, and one of the chemists Homère Filippi, one of the big names of the French & Pizza Connection, organized the murder with a guy called François Girard (both worked for Zampa) . The two organizers of the murder and the motorcycle guys were thrown around by François Scapula, another chemist and a notorious police informer, on the off chance of an arrest in Switzerland in 1986.

Did LCN or Zampa organize the hit? It's still a possibility, but honestly I think if it was, Scapula would have thrown them around. The guy to give so much info to the cops afterwards that it would be very surprising if he didn't give them Zampa & co (even if it should be noted that Zampa had died in prison in 1984).

I suppose not everyone knows Judge Pierre Michel. To put it simply, he was a French equivalent of judges Falcone & Borsellino and he was very involved in the fight against drug traffickers. While on his way to work by motorcycle in 1981, he was assassinated in the middle of the street and in broad daylight by 2 men on a motorcycle (Charles Altiéri the driver & François Checchi the shooter)

the judge michel debacq suspected it... homere filippi disappeared without a trace following the murder

[motorfab]

the judge michel debacq suspected it... homere filippi disappeared without a trace following the murder

Girard has also disappeared. There, on the other hand, I think the Italians were able to help them flee. For the murder, on the other hand, I have doubts but it's not impossible either I suppose ...

[B.]

Early Sicilian pentito Melchiorre Allegra claimed that the Sicilian mafia had a presence in Marseilles in addition to Tunisia. We know the Sicilian mafia had a recognized family in Tunisia, so it makes me wonder if there was an early Sicilian mafia family in Marseilles as well given Allegra's comment.

Not directly related to Corsica but along the same lines.

I sincerely doubt that a borgata as such will be installed in France. On the other hand, I am sure that members of LCN, Camorra or possibly Ndrangeta are in the south of France and have financial interests there (drugs or casinos for example). By doing a quick search I saw that Vito Tatagliani (I don't know him) was arrested in Marseille in 1981 and that Antonino Calderone was arrested in Nice in 1986.

I'm not quite in the south, but in the region of Grenoble (south-middle east of France, to put it simply in the Alps, not far from Italy and Switzerland) and in 1994 a guy called Calogero Pulci was arrested in my small town of 5000 inhabitants (here's the link if you're interested in reading it https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article ... 19218.html ). The region of Grenoble is famous for being a refuge for LCN guys on the run or for French gangters banned from staying by the courts in their regions.

Coming back to Marseille, even if it is not in Corsica, it is in fact a city with a very large Corsican population which immigrated at the beginning of the 20th century. and anyway mafia type activities are not reserved for Corsicans (even if they have been the majority for years). When Giovanni Maugeri of the Gambino Crime Family was deported in 1957, he was active in Milan and Marseille at the same time (which says a lot about the city's mafia activity).

During the Morello/Lupo counterfeiting investigation in the early 1900s, a suspected member called "Zu Vincenzo" told the witness Comito that the mafia was everywhere throughout the world except Japan, something along those lines.

I have no clue about Marseilles myself, only that Allegra specifically mentioned it along with Tunis and we know there was a Sicilian mafia family in Tunis where many prominent mafiosi spent time, so maybe there was a small colony in Marseilles. When Antonino Calderone fled Sicily he lived in Nice with his family but I don't remember anything else he said about France.

I suspect there may have been more Sicilian mafia colonies around the world that died out early on, though I doubt they were "everywhere" like "Zu Vincenzo" told Comito (he was obviously bragging or trying to intimidate him).

Anyway, good information as always.

[motorfab]

Chapter 1 Bonus

Joseph (or Pierre, as he liked to be called) Marini is one of the kings of Montmartre in the mid-1930s has made a specialty of extorting the establishments in the neighborhood.

It was in this context that in November 1935 he sent two of these men, Mario Parraviccini and another guy to extort the Royal Bar of 5000 Francs. Yielding several times, the owner (a woman) decides to ask for help from another Corsican gang led by Joseph Poli alias "Louis Le Marseillais" who advises her not to give in to Marini. What you can imagine will not please him. Marini therefore decides to go to the Royal Bar accompanied by Mario Parraviccini & Jean Dary. Informed, Poli goes there with his friends Auguste Ricord, Fleury Di Nola & Albert Guerin. A sit down is organized between Dary and Poli and obviously nothing has happened, because half an hour later, Marini and these men start firing in all directions against Poli's gang. In the end: everyone escapes except Parraviccini & Poli who are killed.


Joseph Marini, Mario Parraviccini, Joseph Poli and Auguste Ricord

You know what happens to Marini afterwards, but Auguste Ricord deserves our attention on his career in organized crime.

"Mr Heroïne" or "El Viejo", began his career as a criminal early on 14 years old he was convicted of carrying a prohibited weapon and attempted murder. He manages several brothels and nightclubs in the Paris region including "L'Heure Bleue" which is a nightclub very popular with the men of the infamous Gestapo of the Rue Lauriston, better known under the name of "La Carlingue"(a Gestapo office made up of gangsters and dirty cops). Indeed Ricord who was in prison at the beginning of the war, was chosen at the beginning of the 40s, among other thugs, by Henri Lafont, the head of "La Carlingue", to join the Gestapo and will continue his pimp activities among other things including theft from the fake cop (guys pretend to be cops and rob people).

Wanted for collaborationism with the enemy after the war, he fled to settle in South America with his nephew Pascal Bonsignoure and other mobsters on the run (among which we find François Chiappe, André Condemine, Christian David, Lucien Sarti, Claude Patsou, Nonce Luccarotti and many others ...) to continue his pimp activities and especially to engage in heroin trafficking. He will set up a kind of network like Cuntrera-Caruana before the hour and will be associated with other members of LCN in South America like Tommaso Buscetta

Arrested in Paraguay, where he has been living since 1968, the law enforcement's country visibly annoyed by American pressure, finally arrested Ricord in 1972 and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the USA. Released in 1982, he died in 1984 in Paraguay.


Ricord in 1972

[Villain]

Good info and thanks again. These Corsican guys were huge. Ive also heard stories regarding some Balkan criminals from the 70s who also fled to Paraguay

[motorfab]

Good info and thanks again. These Corsican guys were huge. Ive also heard stories regarding some Balkan criminals from the 70s who also fled to Paraguay

Yes that does not surprise me, South America has always been a refuge for fleeing criminals or for war criminals like the Nazis or collaborators like Ricord. It should still be specified that most of them joined the Gestapo only to continue their business. Not only did they have the right to do whatever they wanted because they were under the authority of the Nazis, but they could even take revenge on some cops. There are stories of Lafont going to 36 Quai Des Orfevre (Paris Police Headquarters) to take files and make them disappear. And the cops obviously had no choice, otherwise they were dead, the moral values ​​were completely reversed, it's crazy. But it is clear that many gangsters took advantage of it and committed unforgivable abuses. They were also sentenced to death after the war or those who escaped justice did not escape their "colleagues" who had chosen the right side.

BTW, is that the stuff you were thinking about in your comment yesterday? If so, I have tons of stories like this that I can happily share with you on this thread if you find that cool ...

[Villain]

Good info and thanks again. These Corsican guys were huge. Ive also heard stories regarding some Balkan criminals from the 70s who also fled to Paraguay

Yes that does not surprise me, South America has always been a refuge for fleeing criminals or for war criminals like the Nazis or collaborators like Ricord. It should still be specified that most of them joined the Gestapo only to continue their business. Not only did they have the right to do whatever they wanted because they were under the authority of the Nazis, but they could even take revenge on some cops. There are stories of Lafont going to 36 Quai Des Orfevre (Paris Police Headquarters) to take files and make them disappear. And the cops obviously had no choice, otherwise they were dead, the moral values ​​were completely reversed, it's crazy. But it is clear that many gangsters took advantage of it and committed unforgivable abuses. They were also sentenced to death after the war or those who escaped justice did not escape their "colleagues" who had chosen the right side.

BTW, is that the stuff you were thinking about in your comment yesterday? If so, I have tons of stories like this that I can happily share with you on this thread if you find that cool ...

Thanks again for the additional info and yeah, thats the stuff im talking about

[motorfab]

Chapter 3: Lit Cigarettes and Smoking Guns

From 1945 to 1956, following the Marshall Plan, the juiciest traffic in the French Underworld is smuggling cigarettes. The operation is so lucrative that most of the main players get involved like the pimp Dominique Paoleschi (the one who survived Foata's graveyard attack in Chapter 1) or the robbery legend Paul Leca ...

The traffic is organized as follows: cigarettes are legally imported at the port of Tangier in Morocco. The city has a special status of international zone controlled by diplomats and where the economy is free with very low tax rates. In short, it is the ideal city for trade and where everything is trafficked. Declared goods in transit, they do not pay any customs duty before leaving for their final destination. Most often the island of Malta, where of course they never arrive, and are taken care of in international waters by boats to then be transported to the port of Marseille to then transit through all of Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands etc ...). According to several historians, the trafficking would have been set up by Lucky Luciano with the complicity of the new kings of Marseille since 1945, the Guerini Brothers, Antoine & Barthélémy (info to be checked for the experts of Lucky Luciano) and Jo Renucci (chapter 2) . The operation is even more profitable for the gangsters, when in addition to reselling the cigarettes, they simulate a fake Pirate attack, to then receive the insurance premium.


a shipment of cigarettes seized by customs

But obviously a case will go completely wrong. In June 1952, a Dutch cargo ship called "Le Combinatie" carrying 2700 cases of cigarette packets is caught between Tangier and Gibraltar by a small speedboat driven by an American "pirate", Eliott Forrest, and high jacked the shipments (with therefore the complicity of the captain of Combinatie). The load is supposed to be taken to an island off the coast of Marseille, then to be unloaded by men of Antoine Paolini & Dominique Venturi (see chapter 2), but following bad weather the cargo is finally taken to Corsica. Venturi would then bury the cigarettes in a cemetery (a premonitory gesture…).


The Combinatie & the pirate Eliott Forrest (driving)

Two days later Paolini is arrested: the Captain of the Cominatie has filed complaints, the "pirates" are arrested and talk. He is finally released a few days later, but found on his return to Corsica that part of the cargo had disappeared. His suspicions naturally stem from his accomplice Nick Venturi and Jean Colonna, another powerful Corsican boss who, when is not engaged in various traffics, is also mayor of a village in southern Corsica, Pila Canale.


Portrait of Antoine Paolini & Paolini arrested

In December 1954, a man from Colonna, Laurent Bartoli, is killed in Marseille. A meeting is held on February 17, 1955 between Colonna & Paolini to calm things down. Leaving the meeting, Colonna is shot by three Paolini men hidden behind a palisade. He takes refuge under his car but his legs protrude and are machine-gunned. He survived but he is later amputated. The war is officially open.


Jean Colonna in the 1940s. He still has two legs ...

On March 12, "Planche" (Paolini's nickname, planche = wood board due to its large size and thinness) while driving, escaped an attack in front of a bar in the district of Le Panier. The next day his cousin Jean Tristani is shot dead in Corsica. On April 16 Jean Renucci (possibly a cousin of Jo), a friend of Nick Venturi is injured in Marseille. On June 11, Jacques Oliva, a friend of Planche, is shot in front of his home by three fake tourists dressed in shorts and sunglasses. They pulled their guns out of their beach bags (this story makes me laugh a lot personally). On July 18, Jacques Colonna, who was not involved in organized crime, is shot dead. His only fault was being Jean's brother. In August and September the Cassegrain brothers (friends of Planche) are in their turn killed.


Paolini's car after the failed attack attempt

For the Guerini brothers, who have a kind of Boss of Bosses status in Marseille (the Corsican Mafia does not have a real hierarchy like their cousins in Cosa Nostra, but because of their status and power, the Guerinis brothers, just like Carbone & Spirito before them, have enough influence to arbitrate conflicts.), decide that the killings have lasted long enough and that the conflict must end one way or another.


Antoine & Barthélémy Guerini

On November 4, 1955, chased and abandoned by everyone, Paolini dragged under a false pretext into a cemetery, is killed by two of his men, Marius Salvati & Alexandre Bustico.


Bustico, Salvati and the lifeless body of Antoine Paolini

Is this the end of the Vendetta? No. The Guerinis decide to run out of the remaining stock of cigarettes, but a former Paolini henchman points the hideout to the cops. He is shot a few days later. And the dead continue to rain in Marseille: Dominique Muziotti, Hyacinthe Quilichini, Jo Lorenzi, Paul Caselli, Xavier Gazello ...

It seems that things are calming down in 1972 with the murder of Marius Salvati, shot in the street while walking his dog (Bustico has been shot in 1958 during a failed robbery by gendarmes). Meanwhile, cigarette trafficking has ended since 1956 with the independence of Morocco.

The Vendetta of Combinatie lasted approximately 20 years without interruption. How many deaths did it cause? Impossible to say. According to former Marseilles robber Paul Neri: "In my opinion, the Combinatie war killed at least 40 people." After a while no one knew who he was shooting at or why. It involved, cousins, brothers-in-law, cousins ​​of these, etc ... "

Jean-Baptiste Jérome Colonna, whose father Jacques was killed in front of him, learns in 1961 when he was 21, that his father's murderers were still alive, and he will avenge him a decade later. In the meantime he became himself one of the greats of the French Connection, and one of the last great Corsican Godfathers. He died in 2006 after a heart attack that resulted in a car accident. His death led to a war in Corsica with the elders of his gang + those of the Brise de Mer for the control of organized crime on the island (Colonna controlled the South, La Brise de Mer the North)


Jean-Jé Colonna

Dominique Venturi also had a very successful career in (among other things) drug trafficking. He was convicted in the 1980s of a fraud case and also died in 2006.


Nick Venturi

As for the Pirates (yes, they were kind of forgotten) and Eliott Forrest, they got 3 years in prison and a 300 million former franc fine, the heaviest sentence for cigarette trafficking.

[motorfab]

On an idea from Villain, here are the latest news in Corsica related to the mob.

Assassination of Tony Carboni: few elements and the "pain" of the family (August 14)
https://www.corsematin.com/articles/ass ... lle-111531

Massimu Susini Collective: "This is not revenge!" »
https://www.corsematin.com/articles/col ... BRF2KjIIxM