Investigation into the Corsican band of the "Petit Bar": eight new indictments

After Jacques Santoni, alleged leader of the Corsican mafia gang known as the "Petit bar", eight alleged members of the inner circle of this organization were indicted, especially this weekend, in the financial section of an investigation investigated in Marseille , we learned Sunday from a judicial source.

The qualifications retained by the two judges of the interregional jurisdiction specialized in organized crime (JIRS) in charge of the case relate to facts "of extortion and money laundering in an organized gang, of criminal conspiracy and non-justification of resources".

21 people were arrested in this dirty money laundering case

Five of the indicted were remanded in custody and three were released under judicial supervision, the same source said.

Twenty-one people were arrested on January 10 in Corsica and on the continent in this case of dirty money laundering which, according to figures put forward by the daily "Le Monde" would relate to a total of 48 million investments offshore and real estate.

Among them is the alleged leader of the criminal organization, Jacques Santoni.

This forty-something, quadriplegic since a motorcycle accident in 2003, was indicted on Thursday for extortion and money laundering in an organized gang and criminal association and imprisoned.

Among the new indicted are Antony Perrino, entrepreneur and former CEO of Corse-Matin, placed under judicial control, as well as Sonia Susini-Santoni, wife of Jacques Santoni, and her brother Jean-Laurent Susini who were both imprisoned.

The brother and the sister are suspected of having helped the godfather of the "Small bar" to launder 2.3 million euros thanks to a gain of 4.6 million euros won in the lottery by Jean-Laurent Susini.

According to the prosecution, the latter would have agreed to share his earnings with his sister, falsely declared "co-winning", the sum then being reimbursed to him in cash with dirty money.

A version contested by Me Pascal Garbarini, lawyer for Jacques Santoni, according to which brother and sister had been playing the lotto together for years.

"The numbers played correspond to the date of birth of Sonia's children", he explained, also arguing that "a careful investigation is carried out by the Française des jeux before delivering the winnings".

A file with also a criminal component

The band of the small bar, named after a former café in Ajaccio, has been at the center of many judicial investigations since the 2000s.

Constituted around the former presumed godfather Jean-Jé Colonna, who died in a car accident in 2006, and his presumed successor, Ange Marie Michelosi, assassinated in 2008, it would today be under the authority of Jacques Santoni.

On September 28, a first wave of arrests and searches in Corsica and Switzerland was carried out in this case which also includes a criminal component.

It concerns an assassination attempt against Guy Orsini, son of the former Corsican nationalist leader Alain Orsoni, considered by justice to be a member of a rival clan to that of the "Petit bar".

Jacques Santoni was indicted in this section but three important members of the band escaped the net, probably due to leaks.

The judges dismissed the PJ, also affected by procedural problems, in favor of the gendarmerie.

The head of the Corsican PJ was transferred to Paris and his authorization as a judicial police officer provisionally suspended, like those of his numbers 2 and 3.