More deaths as gangs compete on Riviera

Press, 1 November 1978, Page 24

More deaths as gangs compete on Riviera

By

PAUL WEBSTER

in Marseilles

The police in Marseilles expect very soon to have proof that the recent killing of nine persons in the Telephone Bar was the work of “petty criminals.”

But the real question raised by the killings is whether France will now wake up to the general escalation of gang activity v.ith direct links to the American and Italian Mafia. Even if the syndicates were not involved this time, they have been responsible for scores of deaths m their constant battle for territory, and it is a war which the authorities often ienore.

Among the more sinistei crimes is the disappearance of the daughter of a casino owner in Nice and the appearance of a gang leader implicated in the Cinq-Sept discotheque fire near Grenoble in 1970, when 146 young people were burnt to death. Once. Marseilles’s criminals had limited territorial ambitions. The pre-war “Caids” are surrounded by folklore. Later the Guerini family, illiterate Corsican shenherds who won a formidable Resistance reputation. dominated, until the “godfather” Antoine Guerini was shot by two motor-cyclists in 1967. The Mediterranean port has had three “Caids” since then, each more ambitious and cunning than the last.

Constantin Tramini, or “Tintin,” another Corsican, took over in a battle in which 40 people died in a year. Well placed with the Gaullists, he was killed in 1972 trying to widen his domain. His closest collaborator, Daniel Boggia, betrayed him and took over. Boggia, closely connected with the French interna! intelligence system, the D.S.T., was killed in 1972, when seeking a nationwide take-over with American Mafia backing. The death toll was again almost 40.

A Marseilles-born gangster. usually known as Monsieur X, who moved into the void, is leading a bid to take over the 100raile coastline and particularly Nice, with its casinos.

As the protection racket in Marseilles alone is worth at least S2M a month, control of the Riviera’s prostitution, racecourses, night clubs, casinos, and real estate would be worth an astronomical sum. But the take-over of Riviera racing has been so blatant that racegoers recently beat up jockeys in a riot after a series of fixed races.

Among rhe rivals is a Corsican who was connected with the Grenoble disco fire, which is generally considered.to have been an act of gang vengeance. Seriously wounded

by Boggia’s men in Nice, he is leading a vicious campaign of revenge.

In nine months, 16 gunmen belonging to these clans have died in violence, in which grenades, s u b-machine-guns, and sawn-off shotguns were used. These shootings are really a continuation of a battle that has cost at least 50 lives, many of them innocent people. Direct intervention by the American and Italian Mafia grew up quite recently. American advisers have been brought in to help on new investment and the transfer of money taken in Italian kidnappings.

Violence is now so common in the Riviera capital — armed attacks have doubled in a year — that people’s militia have been set up and riot police reinforcements flown in. In Marseilles’s . “hot quarter” behind the Opera, the underworld boasts openly of well placed allies’and poiitical protectors. They recall that in the Guerini days the “Caids” were said to have vetted police promotions. The French Connection was broken by American investigators when the French refused to budge on the heroin traffic. “We know more about people in power than they know about- us.” sums up criminal arrogance. — O.F.N.S. copyright.