Jacques Mesrine

"Mesrine" redirects here. For the films based on the life of Jaques Mesrine, see Mesrine (1984 film) and Mesrine (2008 film).

Jacques Mesrine
Mugshot of Jacques Mesrine, taken on 9 March 1973.
Born	Jacques René Mesrine 28 December 1936(1936-12-28) Clichy-la-Garenne, France
Died	2 November 1979(1979-11-02) (aged 42) Paris, France
Cause	Shot by police

Jacques Mesrine (French pronunciation: [meʁin] or [mɛsʁin]; 28 December 1936–2 November 1979) was the most famous criminal in modern French history. He was responsible for numerous bank robberies, burglaries, and kidnappings in France and Canada. Mesrine repeatedly escaped from prison and made international headlines during a final period as a fugitive when his exploits included trying to kidnap a judge who had sentenced him. An aptitude for disguise earned him the moniker "The Man of a Hundred Faces" and enabled him to remain at large while receiving massive publicity as a wanted man. Mesrine was widely seen as an anti-establishment 'Robin Hood' figure, in keeping with this image he was rarely without a glamorous female companion. A pair of films which came out in 2008 were based on his life.

Early life and criminal career through 1965

Jacques René Mesrine was born in Clichy-la-Garenne near Paris on 28 December 1936 to a couple of blue collar origins who had moved up in social class, as a child he witnessed a massacre of villagers by German soldiers. His parents had great aspirations for their son and sent him to the prestigious Catholic Collège de Juilly where his friends included future high achievers such as musician and composer Jean-Jacques Debout. Mesrine was an extremely unruly pupil and he was expelled from Collège de Juilly for attacking the principal. He went on to be expelled from other schools and fell into the lifestyle of a juvenile delinquent, much to the dismay of his family. In 1955 aged 19 he married Lydia De Souza in Clichy, the couple divorced a year later. Drafted into the French Army he volunteered for special duty in the Algerian War as a parachutist-commando. While participating in ruthless counter insurgency operations Mesrine's duties are said to have included the killing of prisoners. Although disliking military discipline he enjoyed action and was decorated with the Cross of Military Valour by General de Gaulle before leaving the army in 1959, his father was later to claim that the time in Algeria had brought about a noticeable deterioration in Mesrine's behavior.^[1][2][3]

In 1961 he became involved with the Organisation de l'armée secrète and was married to Maria De La Soledad, they had three children but were to separate in 1965. In 1962 he was sentenced to 18 months for robbery (his first prison sentence although he had been a professional criminal for a number of years). After being released Mesrine made an effort to reform, he worked at an architectural design company where he constructed models, showing considerable ability. However a downsizing in 1964 resulted in him being let go. His family bought him the tenancy of a country restaurant, a role in which he was quite successful, but this arrangement ended after the owner paid a visit one evening to find Mesrine carousing with acquaintances from his past. The lure of easy money and women proved impossible for him to resist and he returned to crime, overcoming some suspicion about his relatively middle class background he began to establish a reputation in the underworld as a man who was crossed at one's peril.^[4][5]

In December 1965, Mesrine was arrested in the villa of the military governor in Palma de Mallorca. He was sentenced to six months in jail and later claimed that Spanish authorities believed he was working for French intelligence.^[6]

Canary Islands, Canada, Venezuela; 1966–72

In 1966, Mesrine opened a restaurant in the Canary Islands, in December of the same year he robbed a jewellery store in Geneva and a hotel in Chamonix. The following year, Mesrine robbed a fashion store in Paris. In February 1968, he fled to Québec with his mistress Jeanne Schneider and worked as a cook and chauffeur for grocery and textile millionaire Georges Deslauriers for a few months before an argument Schneider had with Deslauriers' venerable gardener led to them being dismissed. On June 26, 1969, after an attempt to kidnap Deslauriers went wrong due to the 'knock out drops' they used being inert, Mesrine and Schneider fled to the US. On June 30, Evelyne Le Bouthillier, an elderly lady who may have given them refuge, was found strangled. A couple of weeks later, on July 16, the pair were arrested in Arkansas on information supplied by an accomplice and extradited back to Québec.^[7]

Mesrine was sentenced to ten years in prison for the bungled kidnapping but escaped a few weeks later, only to be reapprehended the next day. Mesrine and Schneider were acquitted of the murder of Bouthillier in 1971. With Jean-Paul Mercier, Mesrine cut through the wire to escape again on August 21, 1972 with five others from the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul prison. Mercier, a wanted murderer, and Mesrine robbed a series of banks in Montreal, sometimes two in the same day. It was at this time that it became apparent that Mesrine did not have a normal criminal orientation towards stealing money or minimizing the danger of being caught. Deeply resenting the way he had been treated in the prison he and Mercier made an extremely risky attempt to precipitate a mass break out from the maximum security block of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul on September 3. However their own break-out had caused perimeter security to be greatly increased and they found the area was swarming with armed guards, there was a shoot out in which two guards were seriously injured and Mercier was wounded before they managed to get away. The effrontery of escaped convicts returning to attack a prison infuriated Canadian law enforcement: the escapade predictably led to a hugely increased effort to apprehend the duo.^[8]

Murder of Médéric Cote and Ernest Saint-Pierre

A week later Mesrine and Mercier went for a target practice session, taking Mercier's girlfriend along, but the location, though three miles down a dirt track through the forest, was far from being truly remote and the noise of them blasting away at targets all afternoon could be heard in Plessisville where there was a Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife station. When Mesrine's car drove back along the track two forest rangers, Médéric Cote aged 62 and Ernest Saint-Pierre aged 50, were waiting. The rangers were armed but their job mainly involved enforcing hunting and firearms regulations and in any case there was no reason to expect that men who had been making themselves conspicuous by such a disturbance would actually be wanted escapees. Realizing they were not policemen Mesrine submitted to a search of the car but on finding loaded guns in the trunk the rangers told them that they would have to follow their car back to Plessisville. While Mesrine was trying to talk them out of this Cote, possibly alerted by the sight of the arsenal of weapons, suddenly recognized the pair whereupon Mesrine and Mercier shot the officers dead.^[9]

Mesrine continued robbing banks in Montreal, and even sneaked into the US again for a brief stay at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York before moving to Caracas, Venezuela.^[10]

Return to France: 1972-1977

By the end of 1972 Mesrine had returned to France where he resumed robbing banks. On March 5, 1973, during an argument with a cashier in a coffee bar, Mesrine brandished a revolver and seriously injured a police officer who tried to intervene, he was arrested 3 days later. In May, he was sentenced to 20 years - which considering his record was lenient - to be served at La Santé maximum security prison where escape was thought to be impossible. In a plan formulated before his arrest, Mesrine took a judge sentencing him on another matter hostage with a revolver (recovered from the courthouse lavatory where it had been hidden by an accomplice) and escaped. After being at large for four months, he was arrested in his new Paris apartment on September 28th 1973, on information supplied by an associate who wanted a reduced sentence, and returned to La Santé where he illicitly wrote and smuggled out L'Instinct de Mort ("The Death Instinct"),^[11][12] an autobiography in which he claimed to have committed upwards of forty murders (thought to be a considerable exaggeration). The publication of the book resulted in France passing a Son of Sam law.

Escape from La Santé

La Santé was seen as escape proof, in Canada Mesrine's prison breaks had required little more than wire cutters and a very high degree of audacity, now he faced security far better than any he had defeated before. A report noted that Mesrine had been seen doing exercises in his cell and was acting like a man who had received good news. On 8 May 1978, he produced a gun, took keys and with François Besse (a highly accomplished escaper in his own right) and another man got out of a cellblock and into a fenced off yard walkway. They had a grappling iron and Mesrine forced some workmen with an extending ladder to bring it along. The trio unlocked a yard gate in an inner wall, an armed guard was taken by surprise at his post before they reached an isolated part of the 14 metre high exterior wall (which would have presented a considerable challenge without the ladder). They hooked the grappling iron on to the top of the ladder and slid down the rope. The third man over the wall was shot dead by police in the street outside. Mesrine and Besse hijacked a car and evaded the police cordon; they had become the first men to escape from La Santé.

Mesrine as fugitive

Mesrine and Besse robbed a Paris gunsmith four days after escaping. On May 26, 1978, the duo robbed Deauville casino of 130,000 francs but the police arrived as they exited, around 50 shots were exchanged and Mesrine was wounded before they made a getaway. Mesrine and Besse eluded the subsequent massive sweep of the area by taking a farmer's family hostage and forcing him to drive them to safety. Subsequently the kidnapping of a banker netted them 450,000 francs. Despite being "French Public Enemy Number One" (L'Ennemi Public Numéro Un), Mesrine was on the cover of the 4th August 1978 Paris Match, in an interview inside he threatened the Minster of Justice. By remaining at large in the Paris area despite his notoriety he seemed to be making a fool of the law and the state, the Paris Match interview was the last straw. From the highest reaches of government the police agencies hunting Mesrine were pressured for results.

This proved to be difficult, not least because of rivalry between the various agencies. The usual informants were of little use as Mesrine avoided contact with the criminal underworld. Moreover, he was adept at disguising his appearance and allaying suspicion from members of the public, he reportedly went for a drink with his neighbours and laughed when one said he "looked like Mesrine".^[13] He travelled to Sicily, Algeria, London, and Brussels, and back to Paris in November 1978, where he robbed a bank. Objecting to Mesrine's proposed kidnapping of a senior judge and not sharing his desire for revenge against the system, François Besse disassociated himself from Mesrine and later disappeared, finally caught in 1994 he was paroled in 2006.^[14][15]

Public Enemy No. 1

The next exploit occurred in November 1978, it was a daring attempt to kidnap a judge (who had sentenced him) as part of a campaign to get maximum security prisons closed. His accomplice was captured but Mesrine escaped by running downstairs past several policemen telling them "Quick! Mesrine's up there!" A young policeman posted outside was found handcuffed to a drainpipe weeping. On 21 June 1979, Mesrine kidnapped millionaire real estate mogul Henri Lelièvre and received a ransom of six million francs.^[16]

Those who viewed Mesrine sympathetically because he was embarrassing the government did not dwell on the murder of the forest rangers (still less on that of the elderly woman in Canada). Mesrine made good copy for the press, clowning for the camera and asserting that his criminal activity was politically motivated.

Jacques Tillier (a former Directorate of Territorial Security policeman) had written disparagingly about Mesrine in Minute but on 10 September 1979 he incautiously went to a clandestine meeting with him on the promise of an interview. An incensed Mesrine had other plans, he shot him in the face, leg and arm. However during his contacts Tillier had discovered the identity of Mesrine's henchman.^[17]

Death

The special police unit tasked with getting Mesrine found it impossible to track him down directly. Eventually by utilizing information supplied by Tillier they ascertained the car that Sylvia Jeanjacquot (believed to be Mesrine's mistress) had used and checked parking tickets which it had received months previously. These indicated she had been frequenting a certain district without any obvious cause. Undercover patrols combed the area and a man fitting Mesrine's description was spotted walking with his girlfriend on October 31, one officer who had seen him at court confirmed the identification by noting Mesrine's distinctive build. The couple were followed home and their building surveilled round the clock.^[18][19]

Three days later, on November 2, the couple left the apartment for a weekend in the country, taking Jeanjacquot's pet poodle. They had reached Porte de Clignancourt on the outskirts of Paris when the gold BMW was boxed in at the entrance to an intersection and police marksmen in the rear of a truck immediately in front of Mesrine's car threw open a tarpaulin. Reportedly, in the instant before the police opened fire Mesrine's eyes seeming to be bursting from his head as he realized he was trapped. 20 rounds were fired at point blank range hitting Mesrine 15 times, a coup de grâce was then administered with a pistol. Sylvia Jeanjacquot lost an eye and suffered lasting damage to her arm, her dog was killed.^[20]

Aftermath

French police announced the operation a success and received congratulations from President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. There were complaints that Mesrine was shot without warning in a way which amounted to extrajudicial killing but police pointed out that he had sworn that he would never surrender and that, as well as a gun, he had been armed with two grenades taped together and adapted so they could be brought into action instantly.

Sylvia Jeanjacquot was not charged with any crime. Mesrine's former defense attorney, Maître Malinbaum, continued for 30 years to fight for a judicial investigation into the events at Porte de Clignancourt and to have the French state held accountable for what she saw as the assassination of her client.^[21]

Murder of Gérard Lebovici

By law Mesrine couldn't profit from L'instinct de Mort but the publishers received a threatening letter from him in 1979 demanding payment nonetheless. L'instinct de Mort was republished in 1984 by Champ Libre Editions,^[22] The founder of Champ Libre, Gérard Lebovici, was a gifted entrepreneur and immensely influential in the French film industry, known for a fascination with criminals he had adopted Mesrine's daughter after his death.

On 5 March 1984 the body of Gérard Lebovici was found in the Avenue Foch underground car park, he had been shot dead with the bullet wounds forming a square - a traditional underworld sign for a contract that has not been fulfilled. One theory is that he was killed by a close associate of Mesrine who he may have had an appointment with that day.^[23]

Pop culture references

A film about Mesrine, Mesrine, was released in 1984. It featured Nicolas Silberg in the title role and was written and directed by André Génovès. Hard Rock ensemble Trust dedicated two tracks ("Le Mitard" and "Instinct de Mort") to Mesrine on their 1980 album The Blood also dedicated the track "Mesrine" off their 1983 False Gestures For A Devious Public LP. There is a Quebec-based grindcore band named Mesrine.^[24] In the French novel, Les Rivières Pourpres, we also learn that the protagonist, Niémans, was involved in his assassination.

A pair of films, L'instinct de mort (English title: Mesrine: Killer Instinct) and L'ennemi public No. 1 (English title: Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1), recounting Mesrine's career and starring Vincent Cassel in the lead role, were released in France in 2008 and in the UK in August 2009. Sylvia Jeanjacquot disliked the second production, she insisted that Jacques Mesrine was not as aggressive (or paunchy) as he was portrayed in L'ennemi public No. 1.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Line of Fire: Heroism, Tragedy, and Canada's Police By Edward Butts
2. ^ "Jacques Mesrine: Le grand gangster". The Independent. 3 August 2009. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/jacques-mesrine-le-grand-gangster-1766392.html. Retrieved 22 March 2011. 
3. ^ Mesrine, Penguin Books, 1980.(English)
4. ^ Line of Fire: Heroism, Tragedy, and Canada's Police, Edward Butts 2009
5. ^ Mesrine, Penguin Books, 1980.(English)
6. ^ Mesrine, Penguin Books, 1980.(English)
7. ^ Line of Fire: Heroism, Tragedy, and Canada's Police, (2009), Edward Butts (2009)
8. ^ Line of Fire: Heroism, Tragedy, and Canada's Police, Edward Butts 2009
9. ^ Line of Fire: Heroism, Tragedy, and Canada's Police, Edward Butts 2009
10. ^ Mesrine, Penguin Books, 1980.(English)
11. ^ L'Instinct de Mort, Editions Lattes, 1977(French)(First publishing)
12. ^ L'instinct de Mort, Flammarion Quebec, 2008.(French)
13. ^ Mesrine by Carey Schofield, Penguin Books, 1981.(English)
14. ^ Mesrine by Carey Schofield, Penguin Books, 1981.(English)
15. ^ French Wikipedia page 'François Besse'
16. ^ Mesrine by Carey Schofield, Penguin Books, 1981.(English)
17. ^ Mesrine by Carey Schofield, Penguin Books, 1981.(English)
18. ^ Mesrine by Carey Schofield, Penguin Books, 1981.(English)
19. ^ Line of Fire: Heroism, Tragedy, and Canada's Police, Edward Butts 2009
20. ^ Mesrine, Penguin Books, 1980.(English)
21. ^ "Jacques Mesrine: Le grand gangster". The Independent. 3 August 2009. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/jacques-mesrine-le-grand-gangster-1766392.html. Retrieved 22 March 2011. 
22. ^ L'Instinct de Mort, Champ Libre Editions, 1984.(French)
23. ^ BBC radio interview with Vincent Cassel
24. ^ "Mesrine". MySpace. 23 August 2010. http://www.myspace.com/mesrine. Retrieved 23 August 2010. 

External links

• The Indomitable Gaul! - World's Greatest Prison Escapes: Jacques Mesrine
• L'instinct de mort at the Internet Movie Database
• L'ennemi public n°1 at the Internet Movie Database
• Mesrine at the Internet Movie Database
• La chasse à l'homme (Mesrine) at the Internet Movie Database
• video Jacques Mesrine
• Killer, Robber, Master of Disguise ... and now the Biggest Movie Star in France by Andrew Hussey, The Observer, July 12, 2009

Persondata
Name	Mesrine, Jacques
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 December 1936
Place of birth	Clichy-la-Garenne, France
Date of death	2 November 1979
Place of death	Paris, France