RULED BY BANDITS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 931, 29 November 1933, Page 1

RULED BY BANDITS.

Corsica Freed at Last From Scourge. PARIS, November 18. A trial which is expected to end Corsica’s long history of banditry is proceeding at Bf.stia. Toussaint Caviglioli and Jean Baptiste Torres, known as “ the last of the bandits ”, are charged with various crimes, including seriously wounding an Englishman while motoring in 1931. The accused are nephews of the desperado Francois Coviglioli, who formerly ruled the district. He posted notices, “ Police possession of firearms not allowed here ”, and raised taxes for himself. Francois in 1931 machine-gunned a hotel because the proprietor was in arrears with taxes, killing a garage worker. He also commanded his gang’s resistance when the police attempted their capture after they had raided Bologno. Three bandits, feasting by the roadside, forced a local accordeon player to provide music with the aid of revolver shots, when a police car appeared. Jean Baptiste sprayed the car with a machine-gun, killing two gendarmes and seriously injuring others. When a gendarme, approaching from another direction, killed Francois, his nephews fled. They were eventually captured after a military expedition. Toussaint pleads that he came unwillingly under his uncle’s influence, and denies killing the garage worker.