As early as March 1994, investigators thought they had the main suspects in the assassination of Yann Piat. However, it is through the chance of their daily work that a more elaborate path will emerge in the affair of the deadly ambush set against this deputy from Varshot dead by a biker as he left his office in Hyères on February 25 of that same year.
“These two people who had been arrested appeared for many months as decoysrecounts in Voices of Crime Jean-Pierre Bonicco, journalist and author of the book Autopsy of an exquisite crime. The Yann Piat affair (Bartillat, 1999). Marseille police continued to investigate the Le Macama bar. So it was classic investigation, telephone tapping, shadowing, etc. But all that didn’t amount to anything, except that in the conversations, we felt very clearly that the people at Macama, well those around the boss of Macama, were careful about what they said.”
However, it is in this business at the port of Hyères that the key to this whole affair lies, and it is a banal arrest that will lead the investigators there. “A delinquent from Hyères, a little known to the police, is arrested for a stolen check case and believes she will get away with it – quite irresponsibly I must say – she confides to investigators that she knows the names of the motorcycle thieves which was used in the assassination of Yann Piat.”
While it was said that Yann Piat was killed precisely because she opposed a system (…) ultimately, it was her death which precipitated the very fall of this system
These two thieves are called Marco Di Caro and Olivier Tomassone. From there, investigators follow the trail of what will be called “the Macama gang”. “Then we round up everyone,” explains Jean-Pierre Bonicco. “And it is from there, for 48 hours, that they will carry out the classic interrogations which will result in the indictment of the assassins and the accomplices.”
In total, seven people suspected of being involved in local mafia groups against whom Yann Piat fought during his lifetime, are referred to the Assize Court. In 1998, the two main accused Gérard Finale accused of being the instigator of the crime, and Lucien Ferri the shooter, are sentenced to life in prison. They have since died.
Four other participants in the commando received lesser prison sentences, and the one suspected of having advised the strategy of the criminals was acquitted. Hyères remains marked by this assassination, in a paradoxical way.
“While it was said that Yann Piat was killed precisely because she opposed a system and was going to dynamite it, that his arrival at the town hall of Hyères risked blowing up everythingultimately, it was her death which precipitated the very fall of this system”, summarizes Jean-Pierre Bonicco who underlines that the elected official who passed from the FN to the UDF remains the only female deputy assassinated in the exercise of her functions .
>> Voices of Crime are lawyers, investigators, close to victims, suspects or culprits. These key witnesses speak to RTL journalists. Unpublished testimonies, which shed new light on justice and the major criminal cases of today.
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