UNDERWORLD FEUD

Grey River Argus, 13 August 1937, Page 9

UNDERWORLD FEUD

ENDS IN PARIS TRAGEDY Corsican Dope Traffickers “INFORMER” A MARKED MAN. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received August 12, 5.5 p.m.) PARIS, August 12. An “underworld” drug vendetta here has just reached its climax with the murder of Jean Paul Stefani. He was the leader of the Corsican gang of drug traffiickers. Stefani was shot down in a street of the suburb of Montmartre. The feud, began some time ago when Stefani sold a drug factory to a rival gang, and then unformed the policed His rivals denounced Stefani, who, on Christmas Eve of 1934, was arI rested, after a shooting affray in “The I Dead Rat” bar in Montmartre. In that affray Angelo Foata, another Corsican, was wounded, and his son, aged five, was killed. Then Stefani’s brother, a few hours later, was shot dead. Stefani was acquitted of the bay affray, Foata refusing to identify him as his son’s murderer. When visiting his wife’s grave in a Paris cemetery, Stefani was ambushed by Foata, who was hidden behind a tombstone. Foata fired, a bullet, piercing Stefani’s hat, and another bullet wounding a friend who was accompanying | him. However, grave diggers on the scene caught Foata, and belaboured him with wooden crosses. Stefani, however, observed the “underworld” code, and declared that Foata did not attack him, but _ the grave diggers’ evidence convicted Foata, who was then sentenced_ to seven years with hard labour. Since Foata was sentenced Stefani had been a marked man, and his shooting was the climax of the feud.