GANG MURDERS IN PARIS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22451, 12 July 1938, Page 11

GANG MURDERS IN PARIS

♦ UNDERWORLD FEUD CAUSES THREE DEATHS CANNES, July 10. A four-year-old underworld feud between Parisian gangsters caused three deaths last night. It had already been responsible for three murders. . , The feud started m the Dead Rat” cabaret in Montmartre, at Christmas, 1934, when a boy named Keusch was killed. His father, Foata Keusch, accused Jean Stefani, but while Jean was awaiting trial his brother, Etienne Stefani, was found shot. Jean Stefani was acquitted in 1936, as no witnesses had appeared. Foata Keusch lay in wait for him at a cemetery where Jean Stefani was visiting his wife’s grave, fired at him and missed. Consequently he vas sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, but Jean Stefani was killed in a Montmartre street last year by a man who was acquitted after pleading self-defence. The latest crime is believed to have been an “execution” by the Stefani gang, two of whom ambushed a 30-year-old Parisian and poured 11 bullets into his head and stomach. They then dashed off in a car without lights and ran doWn and killed two motorists who were repairing a tyre on the roadside at Cannes. Police barred the way at a level crossing, but the driver ignored the signal to halt. The police fired a bullet which pierced the petrol tank and set fire to the car, but the occupants leapt out and disappeared in the darkness. The man shot dead was Andre Marguin, who killed Jean Stefani. Keusch’s son was killed by a volley aimed at his father, Foata Keusch, who was carrying on the vendetta. In attempting to shoot Jean Stefani, Foata Keusch hid behind a tombstone and wounded one of Stefani’s bodyguard. He was then felled by the grave-digger with a wooden cross.