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Murder of Corsican Restaurateur Solved Thanks to Confession by Repentant Italian Mafia Boss
CA with AFP
Today at 5:24 p.m.

Marco Raduano, head of the "Società Foggiana", Italian mafia, was arrested in Corsica on February 1 - Europol

In Italy, the confessions of a repentant mafia boss helped solve the murder of Paul-Félix Paoli, a Corsican restaurateur assassinated in 2023. An investigation in collaboration between the Italian and French authorities, which rekindles the debate on the status of repentant.
The Italian status of "collaborator" of justice, which allowed a mafia boss to confess to a crime committed in Corsica and bring down dozens of people, should be adopted in France, Italian and French prosecutors argued in Marseille on Monday, December 16.

The public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone , had invited three Italian prosecutors to appear before the press on Monday, after the arrest, in early December, of four people in Corsica and 14 in Italy as part of the investigation into the assassination of Paul-Félix Paoli, a beach manager, in August 2023, on the Isle of Beauty.

"If he were French, he would not be able to benefit from the status of collaborator"
Arrested in 2024 in Corsica after several months on the run, Marco Raduano, the head of the Società Foggiana, a mafia group active in Puglia (south), "agreed to collaborate" and confessed to the Italian authorities to being "the direct author" of this assassination, reported Nicolas Bessone.

"This is the first time that a foreign collaborator of justice has acknowledged facts on national territory," said Nicolas Bessone, adding: "If Marco Raduano were French, he would not be able to benefit from the status of collaborator to date since, as you know, our legislation excludes the perpetrators of blood crimes and the instigators from the benefit of this status."

For his counterpart in Bari, Roberto Rossi, "it is a mistake to consider that collaboration for the most serious crimes is scandalous: our collaborators are tools to eradicate organized crime."

The Italian deputy national prosecutor in charge of the fight against the mafia, Michele Prestipino, added: "nothing beats the statements of a collaborator of justice", because "it helps us to build and win trials but also because their existence shows that the mafias can be beaten, are not invincible, and that there is the possibility of getting out of them in another way than being killed".

Status of "repentant"
The Italian status of "collaborator of justice", the official name for the repentant, created in 1980, provides for sentence reductions in exchange for information on a network. In France, only repentant traffickers who do not have blood on their hands can benefit from protection, something that the resigning government of Michel Barnier had said it wanted to change.

Prosecutors also said the investigation had revealed previously unknown links between criminal circles in Puglia, Sardinia and the Corsican nationalist mafia.

Marco Raduano in fact indicated that he had assassinated Paul-Félix Paoli "as part of an exchange of services with members of this Corsican nationalist movement which had helped him to escape from Sardinia and ensure his escape to Corsica", specified Nicolas Bessone.

As part of this investigation, Marc Furfaro, former independence candidate for mayor of Lucciana (Haute-Corse), was arrested, accused of having helped Mr. Raduano in his escape.

CA with AFP

https://rmc.bfmtv.com/actualites/po...-la-mafia-italienne_AD-202412160660.html

The Corsicans have always worked with the Italians, and the Marseilles underworld for that matter.

Yep Giovanni Falcone visited France a couple of times heavily guarded.
The well known Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone is from Corsica himself.
I do believe this case will have an impact on the French Underworld.

Very big case indeed.

We have a witness protection program in France that was put in place specifcally to fight Corsican OC but, as explained in Hollander's article, it's relevant for non violent criminal which is absurd.

One of the first informant was a Corsican guy who confessed taking part in the murder of a Corsican Mob Boss (Richard Casanova) and depite his testimony, he was still sentenced for the murder. That's why the judge are advocating for a similar system as the Italian.

1973: Corsican Mafia member Christian David & Sicilian Mafia pentito Tommaso Buscetta deported from Brazil for running a (French Connection) heroin smuggling ring. The line up of both Sicilians and Corsicans.

https://yt3.ggpht.com/mnhsuNiyyX3Eb...R090wjsHU7l9zQ7yXnDg6dxzA=s1107-rw-nd-v1

Interesting video.

If you open a restaurant, hotel, nightclub... in Corsica, you'll have to pay protection money to the local mafia. There's no way around it.

For sure. It's the same in for instance Sicily. People are used to just pay up to the extent that the local gangsters don't even have to use violence anymore.

Mafiosa was not bad I believe some actors had ties the clans.

Mafiosa was meh imho. The "female boss in the Corsican mob" angle was unrealistic to begin with and the show in general lacked a bit of kick.

It did feel more like a soap opera at times. Most realistic about the french underworld is A Prophet.

Actually the writer of A Prophet took over the show after the first season and i think he turned into a great show. I enjoyd it.

And yes some of the actors were connected to the Mob. There's even a scene in the show where the clan goes to a gambling club in Paris and take over the joint. One of the actors in the scene was actually involved in a similar situation in real life when he went with a bunch of Corsicans to the Cercle Wagram, the most prestigious gambling club in Paris, and took over the place. They showed up one morning and told the staff to leave because from now on the place was theirs. As I said, Corsican are fierce.

Another actor of the show ran another Gambling club in Paris. They all are connected to Jean-Luc Germani, one of the main Corsican Mob boss.

Thanks Mafiosa def picked up after season 1, didn't know he was the writer of A Prophet.

I believe in Corsica there are about 24 gangs on the mainland several more in Marseille, Nice, Paris etc..

Are all of these Corsican gangs or 'clans' still active today?

According to a report by the judicial police, there were 25 criminal gangs in Corsica in 2022

South Corsica :
Greater Ajaccio : 8 criminal gangs identified in 2022
Sartenais : the different criminal clans controlling the micro-region.
Cargèse / Vicolais : several local families from the micro-region.
Far South: different groups in Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio

Upper Corsica :the various groups that are heirs to the Sea Breeze gang : they share the Bastia region , Cortenais , the eastern plain and Balagne . They also have their eye on South Corsica by allying themselves with local groups.
Grand Bastia : the clan close to Charles Pieri .

Central Corsica : Costa and Mattei clans.