Corsican mafia

One of the rare turncoats of le milieu corse has written a book. Claude Chossat former bodyguard of Francis Mariani, one of the sponsors of the Sea Breeze, lives in fear of reprisals. Mariani was killed by a remote-controlled bomb in 2009.

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/faits-div...afia-corse.html

My knowledge of French is unfortunately nonexistent , but thanks for sharing this nonetheless .

Does the article mention upcoming foreign language translations of this fellow's work by the way ? I must say that information about Corsican OC groups is rather scarce when it comes to English language sources , so it would be great if some major international publisher were to snap this man's book up .

I agree, even in french good books are scarce. Part of the problem is that the omerta is still strong compared to their Sicilian cousins.

The Corsican Mafia was written a lot in Octopus by Claire Sterling.

Heavy into Heroin.

Does anyone know if the Corsican mob is Italians from France? Or is there no ethnic back ground for them?

Their own culture and language are similar, but they have assimilated. Napoleon Bonaparte was a Corsican.

Is it possible that part of the reason why so little information is available about Corsican OC is due to the connections many groups had with the French and American governments ?

Theres a restaurant in manhattan called le dea voir on 129 e 60th or something that has been there 80 years that is all french and corsicans working there and its really shady. I wonder about it sometimes...

Jean Jehan was the big guy behind the French Connection in NY, but there were so many Corsicans involved.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VNSNtJJQkQQ/VTgLKv3jTaI/AAAAAAAAj1U/sbp9txUj25o/s1600/jehan.jpg

the island of corsica was italian in the past he became french in 1800s that's the reason they have italian surnames but they have nothing to do with italians aside surnames and some language word, they are french

Marseille: Arrest of the Marseille sponsor Gérald Campanella
Sunday 05/11/2017 at 09H03 - updated Sunday 05/11/2017 at 09H08 Marseilles

Gérald Campanella, 50 years old, well known figure of Marseille banditry, was arrested yesterday and placed in police custody in the premises of the judicial police in Marseille.
It is understood, along with five other people, as part of an open investigation case for "gang murder and criminal conspiracy". He was returning from abroad when he was apprehended.
Gérald Campanella had been on the run since 13 November 2013 and under an arrest warrant on 15 June 2015. On 21 October 2016, he was sentenced by the Marseille Criminal Court to 10 years in prison after the discovery of a cache of weapons in the district of Capelette (10th).His DNA had been found on an automatic pistol, ammunition and a magazine. He did not show up at his trial.

I read they do business with the 'ndrangheta on the French Riviera.

Never read anything about that, if true , is there anyone that ndrangheta doesnt work with lol

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/...cote-d-azur.php


"Honorable families" invest up to Nice, forming agreements with local banditry or the Corsican milieu.

yes he was but his parents were from Genova and he was born when Corsica still belonged to italy - they sold it one year after his birth to france - his real name was napoleone buonaparte

They have relationships with Marseille clans and are active in Clermont Ferrand, French Riviera, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Toulon and Toulouse.

One person was killed and two other wounded in the parking lot at Bastia airport, in Corsica. According to information from BFM-TV, the victim, a man, was killed by a bullet to the head. One of the injured is serious and the car with the killers is on the run. The first investigations on the ambush are directed towards the track of settlement of accounts in the environment of banditry. Prosecutor Caroline Tharot arrived on the spot.

http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.nl/2017/12/notorious-corsican-gangster-shot-dead.html

The brother of Francis Mariani arrested.

Jacques Mariani, heir to the "Sea Breeze" gang, arrested as part of an investigation for extortion

https://actu.orange.fr/france/loire-atla...00000UePO7.html

Jacques Mariani convicted on appeal for corrupting a prison guard

Mariani is accused of paying 15,000 euros to a prison guard against several phones, 3G keys and alcohol.

He is considered the heir of the criminal band La Brise de Mer. He was sentenced by the Criminal Court of Marseille on March 22, 2017, to two years in prison, one of which suspended for having paid 15,000 euros to a guard of the central house of Saint-Maur (Indre) in exchange for the delivery in his cell of several mobile phones, two 3G keys and about thirty bottles of alcohol transferred into bottles of mineral water.

But on 18 September, the Advocate General had called for a worsening of the sentence by describing Jacques Mariani as "a guy with strong charisma and important authority". Also, the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence has increased this sentence on Tuesday, sentencing him to four years in prison.

In its judgment, the Court of Appeal stated that the targeted public servant, "identified as particularly fragile", had been the target of "a figure of organized crime whose influence in prison was emphasized". This new sentence pushes the final sentence of Jacques Mariani, originally scheduled for August 29, 2023.

Currently incarcerated in Les Baumettes, Jacques Mariani, 52, has already spent 35 years behind bars. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the murder of a young nationalist in 2001 in Bastia.

Guy Orsoni arrested with a sniper rifle in Ajaccio, he was wounded in an assassination attempt on September 13. According to the police, the son of the nationalist leader Alain Orsoni, as well as another man, Antoine Moretti, seemed to be preparing to kill someone as part of a settlement of account.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-fr...me-d-un-fusil-de-precision-a-ajaccio.php

How true is the claim that Corsican mobsters tend to be rivals of radical Corsican nationalist groups like the FLNC ? If so then what are the reasons behind it ?

There could be several reasons but often control of the black market is behind the killings. For example nationalist leaders like Orsoni made many investments in the gambling sector.

Very surprised no one has brought this movie up which features the Corsican Mafia heavily - https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/21/a-prophet-review

The movies called - A Prophet and it’s brilliant. 97% on rotten tomatoes for what that’s worth. Lot of murders in this too

Just done a search on the above mentioned movie and someone last brought it up in 2014 on another thread about the corsicans. Great minds ha

Jean-Louis Andreani, 61, was targeted Tuesday by an assassination attempt in Vescovato he was hospitalized at the hospital center of Bastia. Out of danger but injured in the back and one arm, he could be heard by the investigators of the Regional Directorate of Judicial Police (DRPJ), in charge of the case. Several elements suggest that the investigators are on the trail of a crime in connection with le milieu du grand banditism. The modus operandi, first of all. The attempt was perpetrated, at a busy hour, on the parking lot of a residence which is in a very busy place. Sign that it could be an act done with a lot of coolness by a "professional".

Excellent thread, thank you.

A well-known figure in the Marseille underworld, Gérald Campanella, 51, currently detained at Les Baumettes, was heard for several hours by examining magistrate Marie Grandjouan. This interrogation comes as part of his indictment for murder and criminal conspiracy after the death of 36-year-old Nassim Azzoug on January 25, 2016 in Bouc-Bel-Air.
The judge is also interested in the murder of the former Corsican nationalist Jean-Daniel Geronimi in November 2014.

Humbert Danti, a restaurant owner, was shot dead in the morning of Tuesday, January 15th in Porta Square in Sartène. His killers left him no chance. The victim, 37, was hit by about thirty projectiles from an assault rifle. The Ajaccio public prosecutor, who went there, said that the victim had some relations with members of one of the local gangs who have been settling scores for years. The local gang war has already claimed several victims. In France they call it: Le Guerre Sartène. The restaurant owner, who had just been married, is the first victim of organized crime since the beginning of the year in Corsica.

Is there any truth to the claim that the conflict between the FLNC and Corsican OC groups stems from the FLNC's anti drug stance ? Or is that BS ?

First we don't have one FLNC. They exist much more FLNC subgroups. But general it is Bullshit.
Its all about control gambling (france, africa) and other stuff.

So guys told me François Santoni was killed because he don't want "play this game". But i dont believe it.

Yeah Santoni accused former associates of drug trafficking before his was killed at that wedding. The anti drug stance is similar to what the IRA and LCN did to get more respectability.

Thierry Fornasari, a figure of organized crime, was shot dead in the Var
By La Provence (with AFP) - March 09, 2019 at 10:26

Thierry Fornasari, 44 years old, known figure of the great banditism Riviera, on the run since 2017, was found shot dead on the commune of Tanneron (Var), one knew Saturday of judicial source.

The discovery of the body in a vehicle goes back to the end of February, and the victim could be formally identified, said this source, confirming information from Var-Matin and France Bleu. The prosecutor's office of Draguignan (Var) was divested, given the personality of the victim, in favor of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Marseille.

In 2014, Thierry Fornasari, after being extradited from Spain, was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for drug trafficking by the Criminal Court of Grasse, which had then confirmed a default sentence handed down ten years earlier. By the end of 2017, he had not returned to his cell after an exit permit.

This Cannois has a heavy history of robber and drug dealer. Initiated to robberies at 17 by his father Robert, he was part of a gang that robbed 19 banks. In February 1999, at the age of 24, he had been sentenced for the first time for drug trafficking from Spain to France.

In 2001, Thierry Fornasari moved to Marbella (Spain). Associated with an accomplice in the suburbs of Cannes, he allegedly organized the importation into France of 7 tons of cannabis resin, between July 2002 and November 2003. It was for this traffic that he was sentenced, in his absence, to 15 years in prison in 2004.

This first run ended in July 2007 when he was arrested by Spanish police on the Costa del Sol in another drug trafficking case involving kidnapping.

He was then sentenced to 7 years in prison. His sentence served in Spain he had been extradited to France. He is the nephew of Emile Fornasari, a jeweler and figurehead of banditry, who had distinguished himself in 2001 by escaping by helicopter from the prison of Draguignan with two other prisoners and who had been sentenced to life in 2017 for to have ordered the assassination of a school guard in Antibes.

The name of Thierry Fornasari had also appeared in this file which had seen the life sentence of Michel Lambin, aka the "shepherd of Caussols", to whom the accusation had attributed the assassination of the school warden.

https://www.corsematin.com/article/...ditisme-a-ete-tue-par-balles-dans-le-var

Michel Lambin is a strange case. Lambin is an alleged serial killer and cannibal who was supposedly used by Emile Fornasari as a hitman. He's been brought into connection with at least 8 underworld murders.

Ballaison: the Corsican mafia involved in the assassination of the former secret agent?
POSTED ON 29/03/2019

Who eliminated Daniel Forestier, shot dead March 21 at Ballaison, a small village in Haute-Savoie? Disturbing elements related to the activities of this former secret agent suggest the trail of the Corsican mafia.

http://www.lemessager.fr/a-la-une-l...quee-dans-l-assassinat-de-ia914b0n214565

https://france3-regions.francetvinf...i-mene-aux-freres-guazzelli-1663093.html

Poretta Airport Double Homicide: The Bottom of Drug Trafficking That Led to the Guazzelli Brothers

By Kael Serreri
Posted on 15/05/2019 at 18:11


December 5, 2017, 11:30 am: Antoine Quilichini and Jean-Luc Codaccioni are murdered in the car park of Bastia-Poretta airport , under the eyes of the dumbfounded travelers.

They are well-known to the criminal justice system and the police, and in the midst of a reorganization of the island's criminal milieu, the tracks seem numerous.

Very quickly, however, the eyes are turned towards the heirs of the criminal gang of the Sea Brise, whose ranks were decimated by settlement accounts likely internal to the group.
Police surveillance

This is not customary: the investigations will quickly confirm the public rumor and December 12, 2017, Christophe and Richard Guazzelli are arrested in a mini villa of the Domaine de Biscovaggia in Porto Vecchio.

They are the two young sons of the late Francis Guazzelli, ex-baron of the Brise assassinated in 2009 and the justice suspects them today of having wanted to avenge the death of their father by attacking relatives of Jean-Luc Germani , another figure of the insular environment .
If the investigators were able to get hold of the suspects so quickly, when cases of this type are usually very complex to solve, it is because the Guazzelli brothers were spun for many months in another investigation , targeting an international drug traffic organized between Corsica and Spain.

On 11 June Paul Rocca was shot dead in the port of Bonifacio. he was an owner of a sea tour company popular with tourists. it adds to the number of violent deaths in the middle of the companies of the sea tour of the area since about twenty years. Enough to encourage investigators to consider a resumption of hostilities. The context of historical tensions in Bonifacio, between the three families Cantara, Rocca and Chiocca is obviously taken into account. In the 1990s and 2000s, a series of assassinations had hit the headlines.
In an article published in the newspaper Le Monde dated December 8, 2017, a police listening, conducted during a parlor between Ange-Toussaint Federici and his cousin Paul, highlighted the interests of the "Federici clan" in the tourism sector, sea tours in the extreme south of Corsica.

The last murder claimed by FLNC before judges. Presented by the Corsican nationalist group as a political act, the assassination of Christian Leoni took place against a backdrop of criminal rivalries. Leoni member of the Sea Breeze gang was shot dead in 2011.

It seems the FLNC played a role in other murders as well.

Threat of Violence Looms Over Corsica as Mafia Grip Tightens
Sun-drenched Corsica is a popular destination for those seeking a culture rich in tradition, Mediterranean cuisine, and unique local culture. The French island, however, reveals a dark side as organised crime culture and the FLNC flourishes once again

https://www.southeusummit.com/europ...oms-over-corsica-as-mafia-grip-tightens/

Jacques Mariani filed last week a complaint for inhuman treatment in prison.

Incarcerated in the prison of Baumettes in Marseille, Mariani, presented as an heir to the criminal gang de la Brise de Mer, would suffer for several months from dizziness and severe headaches.
He has not yet been able to receive adequate treatment, according to a source familiar with the matter.

His lawyer, Maître Yassine Maharsi , announced that he had filed a complaint for "inhuman treatment in prison" this Monday, January 20.
"Jacques Mariani has been suffering for months," explains the lawyer. The remand center remains silent despite the numerous requests from his counsel. We filed a complaint because it is the only way to be heard. ”

Jacques Mariani serving several convictions:
A 4-year prison sentence handed down in October 2018 by the Aix en Provence Court of Appeal in a case of prison warden corruption
A sentence of 5 years in prison was also imposed by the same Court of Appeal of Aix en Provence in June 2018 in a case of witness tampering , but he will benefit from a new trial in this case, the Court of cassation having ruled in this sense.
Jacques Mariani is also implicated in another procedure of money laundering and extortion of organized gangs that the investigators link to the double assassination at Bastia-Poretta airport, perpetrated in December 2017.

At 54, the detainee has spent more than three decades behind bars.

New jurisdiction against organized crime: many Corsican files soon to be dealt with in Paris.

The 2018-2022 programming and justice reform law, promulgated on March 23, 2019, provides for the creation of a new national court against organized crime. Many Corsican files will now be processed in Paris.

The circular from the Ministry of Justice has just been published , but the magistrates have not yet been appointed.

The new jurisdiction, which should be operational in a few months, will deal with the most complex cases: homicides in organized gangs, money laundering, trafficking ... but also white-collar crime, tax evasion or other carbon tax scams.

Organized crime is multifaceted, it covers many models, ranging from the underground economy to specialized crime, from the seller of 'shit', in the cellars of a suburb, to the golden boy who has never wielded a ' caliber ', but which removes thousands of euros by tapping on the keyboard of his computer.

Officially, there is no mafia in France. The Sirasco report, the information and strategic intelligence service on organized crime, talks about criminal organizations. The report's writers place the Corsican community at the head of the gondola, in connection with other criminal gangs. Clans which associate, wage war, make agreements according to the balance of power within each organization.

The debate over the absence of a French-style 'Mafia' is above all ideological and semantic. The Italian 'Mafia' is in fact hierarchically hierarchical, around 6 groups, from the Godfather, to simple soldiers, with, at the top of the pyramid, the famous dome, which is the governing body of the criminal organization and who holds supreme authority.

This organization does not exist in France, where the criminal gangs operate rather on a horizontal mode, but the product of their activities still represents 12% of the GDP (gross domestic product) French!

If the existence of a mafia in France is denied by the authorities, organized crime uses the same resources, with a strong capacity for innovation and adaptation. Former criminal activities (slot machines, racketeering, drugs) now coexist with those of a traditional legal enterprise (public procurement, construction, stock market speculation).

Big crime: José Menconi, figure of the Corso-Marseille environment, arrested in the Val-de-Marne
As part of a hack related to the affairs of the Petit Bar gang, the 55-year-old former robber, well known to the authorities, was arrested this Wednesday morning by the gendarmes in Nogent-sur-Marne.

José Menconi, a 55-year-old ex-robber, described as a figure in the Corso-Marseille environment, once close to the Bastia gang of the Brise de Mer , was arrested this Wednesday morning in Nogent-sur-Marne (Val- de-Marne) before being placed in police custody in the premises of the Pontoise gendarmerie (Val-d'Oise).

This operation, in which a dozen suspects were arrested in Corsica and on the continent, concerns cases of laundering the criminal activities of the Petit Bar gang which would involve tens of millions of hidden investments.

In early October, José Menconi, released from prison in June 2016 after spending more than thirteen years behind bars, had already been indicted in connection with an assassination attempt in September 2018 on a suspected member of the great Corsican banditry, Guy Orsoni . In this case, the courts reproach him in particular for his links with the so-called Petit Bar gang in Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud), whose alleged godfather, Jacques Santoni, is suspected of having sponsored this criminal project against the son of Alain Orsoni, the former nationalist leader and ex-president of the football club AC Ajaccio.

Jacques Cassandri, 78, considered one of the "godfathers" of organized crime in Marseille, died in hospital on January 19, 2022 from Covid-19.

I find the Corsican Mafia very interesting. It's a different perspective

Cassandri and the other robbers in the "heist of the century",

On July 18, 1976, the equivalent of 46 million francs evaporated from the vaults of Société Générale de Nice. "No gunshot, no violence, no hatred", brag on a note left behind by the authors of this "heist of the century", who fled through the tunnel they dug from the city sewers.

Justice never got hold of the spoils.

The “Maghreb and gypsy milieu”, the new face of the Corsican mafia
Several ongoing cases show the growing weight, according to investigators, of a clan structured around the figure of Yassine Akhazzane, in the Propriano region.

By Jacques Follorou
Published on August 29, 2023 at 06:00, modified on August 29, 2023 at 14:46

Cinema does not only feed on the past, it sometimes predicts the future. This is the observation of magistrates and police officers specialized in the fight against Corsican organized crime. Several ongoing cases attest to the unprecedented weight taken, according to the police, by the “Maghreb and gypsy milieu” within the island mafia. A real sociological revolution that makes these former auxiliaries a force in their own right, which has become essential. An echo, too, of the film A Prophet by Jacques Audiard, released in 2009, which already evoked the loss of influence of the Corsicans against the Arabs within banditry.

https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/arti...sage-de-la-mafia-corse_6186894_3224.html

Lol Lemonde is basically the French equivalent of TheSun or Daily Mail, which means that everything they write - especially about organized crime - has to be taken with an entire bag of salt. Akhazzane is a robber and jewelry thief associated with the Carboni group of the Petit Bar clan. There's literally zero truth to tell tales that Maghreb criminals are gaining more influence in Corsica than the established Corsican groups. If anything, non-Corsican criminals operating in Corsica are always connected to an established Corsican group.

In Marseille it's different. In the quarters, especially marihuana and hashish trafficking is completely monopolized by a few Algerian crime families (most of them with origins in the Aurès region).

As for "gypsy gangsters" operating in Corsica? I haven't been able to find even the slightest evidence. The major gypsy underworld in France is situated in Paris.

No matter the country, popular newspapers are absolutely worthless when it comes to covering organized crime.

According to a report by the judicial police, there would be 25 criminal gangs in Corsica in 2022 10 , 11 .

Southern Corsica :
Greater Ajaccio : 8 criminal gangs identified in 2022, including
Little Bar Gang
the close clan of Alain Orsoni
Sartenais : the various criminal clans controlling the micro-region.
Far South: various groups in Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio , notably those behind the “war of the boatmen” in the 21st century 12 .
clan Zilli Ange Zilli Jerome Zilli say Ajaccio or Goliath
Vicolais : several clans.
Upper Corsica :
the various heir groups of the Sea Breeze Gang : they share the Bastia region , the Cortenais , the eastern plain and Balagne . They are also eyeing Corsica-du-Sud by joining forces with local groups.
Band of Venzolasca shepherds (or Band of shepherds-robbers) established from the stronghold of Venzolasca in the Bastia region , the Cortenais and the eastern plain , as well as the Far South of the island.
Grand Bastia : the close clan of Charles Pieri .
Center Corsica : Costa and Mattei clans.

François Marcantoni ( Alzi , May 28, 1920 - Paris , August 17, 2010) was a Corsican gangster , resistance fighter , bank robber and writer

Marcantoni took part in a sabotage operation in Toulon in 1942 during World War II , refusing to cooperate with the Vichy France regime .

In the 1950s he was involved in a series of bank robberies. During that period he also met the future film star Alain Delon .

Marcantoni was suspected in 1968 of the murder of Stevan Markovic, a bodyguard of Alain Delon. One of the incriminating elements against him was a letter from Markovic to his brother Aleksandar, in which he wrote: "If I am murdered, it will 100% certainly be the fault of Alain Delon and his godfather François Marcantoni." Marcantoni remained imprisoned for 11 months, but was released in December 1969 due to lack of evidence.

The Corsican mobster François Marcantoni (right) with actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (left)

Alexander Markovic (left)

Due to the early historical connection the Corsican mafia shares with the Sicilian one, the modern structure of most French mobs typically break down into crime families with a strict hierarchy. Usually the goodfellas that carry out "orders" are known as une équipe multi-qualifiée (i.e. a multi-skilled team) composed of les beaux voyous (i.e. "the good fellows"). Most of these groups of members maintain and protect "mouvances" (i.e. territory).[2] Members of the French Mob are highly professional as compared to lower-level crime groups in that they usually split their work by specialty (e.g. some members serve as the "brain", while others the "muscle" and/or "specialist".[2]

Caïd (French: [kay-id] "the big boss"; "the boss")
Parrain (French: [pah-rahn] "godfather")
Spécialiste (French: [speh-sjah-leest] "specialist")
Associés ("associate")
Beaux voyous ([bow vwah-yo] "goodfella"; "the good fellows")

100%, the French mob was also glamorous, but VERY brutal.

Photo not dated from the year 1930 of the boss Joseph Marini.

Marini

Is the Corsican Mob still active? And for that matter, the traditional French Mob?

Stevan Markovic was big player here in Belgrade before he left the country. His murder was brutal , he was cut into pieces and had his penis inside his mouth.

does the Corsican mob have rituals and ranks?

No turncoat has ever spoke about that,, remember officially there is no mafia in France. The Sirasco report, the information and strategic intelligence service on organized crime, talks about criminal organizations. The report's writers place the Corsican community at the head of the gondola, in connection with other criminal gangs. Clans which associate, wage war, make agreements according to the balance of power within each organization.The product of their activities still represents 12% of the French GDP (gross domestic product).

If the existence of a mafia in France is denied by the authorities, organized crime uses the same resources, with a strong capacity for innovation and adaptation. Former criminal activities (slot machines, racketeering, drugs) now coexist with those of a traditional legal enterprise (public procurement, construction, stock market speculation).

It is said Paoli founded the crime organization at the end of the 18th century.
Filippo Antonio Pasquale de Paoli was a Corsican patriot and ruled the island for 14 years. Pascal or Pasquali Paoli was the father of Corsican nationalism. He lived in exile for 37 years. Paoli received his education in Naples, where his father lived in exile.

Giovanni Falcone investigated them. He learned that the chemists of the French Connection had moved clandestine labs for refining heroin from Marseille to Sicily.

In a photo taken in October 1986, Italian Judge Giovanni Falcone (2ndL), is surrounded by his bodyguards in Marseille to meet his French counterparts to investigate in the Mafia ‘Pizza Connection’ criminal plot

Unsolved Mysteries: The Assassination of Marcel Francisci
Was the 1982 Assassination of Marcel Francisci Leftovers From the Infamous “French Connection”?

https://truecrimedetective.co.uk/un...ination-of-marcel-francisci-a812e6f5afab

Francisci was the owner of a lucrative international gambling syndicate with lavish casinos in Paris, London and Beirut. He ran the prestigious Cercle Hausmann in Paris.