Police officers in the streets of Nice in October 2020 (Illustration) -

SYSPEO / SIPA

  • In total, 35 people were taken into police custody as part of an investigation, in particular for "criminal conspiracy, money laundering committed by an organized gang and extortion by an organized gang".

  • Seven of those arrested were imprisoned and the other two were left free under judicial supervision.

  • Two people who had also been arrested were placed under the status of assisted witness and two others, imprisoned in Spain, are subject to a European arrest warrant.

In total, 35 people were arrested on November 16 and the following days, especially in the Alpes-Maritimes, as part of an investigation opened more than a year ago.

On Tuesday, the Marseille prosecutor's office announced that nine of them were indicted after this vast crackdown in the "great crime on the Riviera".

This operation allowed the dismantling of a "criminal organization" specializing in "racketeering".

Seven of those arrested were imprisoned.

The other two were left free under judicial supervision.

The prosecution appealed against this decision in one of the cases.

Two people who had also been arrested were placed under the status of assisted witness and two others, imprisoned in Spain, are under a European arrest warrant, said the prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens.

Literally racketeered businesses

It is one of these two people arrested in Spain who would be "the head of this association of criminals", according to the Marseille prosecutor's office.

An investigation was opened in particular for "criminal association, running a gambling house in an organized gang, money laundering committed in an organized gang and extortion in an organized gang".

"All the henchmen who acted on [the] instructions" of this leader were arrested, in the departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or even Var, but also in Haute-Corse and in the Oise.

Concretely, this criminal organization had "got hold of many shops, restaurants, nightclubs, car garages, construction and public works companies and private beaches on the French Riviera," said the prosecution.

"In return for" protection "", their officials were "forced to pay a tithe consisting of free services, fictitious jobs or the monthly payment of sums of up to several thousand euros".

And "the recalcitrant quickly found themselves victims of threats, thefts or fires, having no other choice but to submit".

From a source close to the investigation, one of the last historical figures of the Nice community was among these people arrested.

Police officer involved

Still according to the prosecution, this criminal organization "relied on the assistance of a police officer [in Nice] who had access to the various files of the national police force and provided them with advice to thwart possible surveillance".

It was not specified Tuesday whether this official is one of those indicted.

"In search of new markets", according to the prosecution, this organization had also "tried to penetrate the town hall of Menton (Alpes-Maritimes), via one of its members placed on a list competing with the outgoing mayor during the last municipal elections", that of Olivier Bettati, also placed in police custody.

But he was ultimately not elected.

Miscellaneous

Thirty arrests in the middle of organized crime on the Riviera

Miscellaneous

Fourteen arrests after the murder of a figure of organized crime in Cannes

  • Society

  • Banditry

  • Trade

  • Organized crime

  • Investigation

  • Racketeering

  • Justice

  • Nice