The investigation around the spectacular escape of Redoine Faïd from Réau prison (Seine-et-Marne), in the summer of 2018, has just rebounded.
According to our information, José Menconi, 55, a former figure in the Corso-Marseille environment, once close to the Brise de Mer gang in Bastia (Haute-Corse), was indicted at the end of November. , in another part of the file, that of a project of escape of the media recidivist robber from the remand center of Fresnes (Val-de-Marne), which would have been mounted in 2017, a few months before his beautiful in helicopter .
José Menconi, nicknamed "Pinocchio", is being prosecuted for "criminal association with a view to preparing an offense punishable by ten years' imprisonment".
He was placed under judicial supervision.
The two procedures were joined in the same investigation file managed by judge Jean-Michel Gentil, stationed at the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) in Paris.
The magistrate-instructor also always tries to identify the fifth and last member of the commando who had allowed the one who calls himself "The Doc" or "Pixie", originally from Creil (Oise), to regain his freedom. summer 2018. One of the alleged accomplices of the robber of the Oise had specified, during his police custody, that this last accomplice, never identified, was nicknamed "the old" or "the old", before specifying that 'he had a "strong southern accent" and an "eagle nose".
The "landlady" of Redoine Faïd during his short run a little over three months after his escape from Réau had also confided that the fugitive's nephews - also indicted and imprisoned in this affair - had had an appointment with "A Corsican" in Paris.
This man was referred to as the "serpent" or "C" and seemed to know the topography of Réau prison perfectly.
On July 1, 2018, this mysterious fifth member of the commando would have remained with the helicopter pilot taken hostage, aboard his Alouette, while two other accomplices, heavily armed, had managed to recover Rédoine Faïd, before bringing him up in the aircraft.
"He made me pass for a bell"
During his police custody in the premises of the PJ of Versailles at the end of November, José Menconi denied any involvement in the Fresnes escape project.
“Redoine Faïd, I repeat, I don't know him!
»He told the Versailles police officers, after being taken out of his cell in the Health prison in Paris.
He even said he did not "appreciate" the criminal creillois, who had presented him in his autobiographical book, released in 2010, as someone who "slept all day".
“This detail, I took it very badly, assured Menconi.
Because he made me look like a bell.
"
Investigators and magistrate suspect "Pinocchio" of having participated in an escape plan by Redoine Faïd de Fresnes.
The latter had contacted, in 2017, another eminent member of Corsican organized crime: Jacques Mariani.
The son of Francis Mariani, pillar of the Sea Breeze, had met Rachid Faïd, one of Rédoine's brothers, in May 2017, and was offered to finance his "extraction" project with explosives. , from the dilapidated prison.
Jacques Mariani was indicted in this case.
José Menconi would have been asked to provide part of the logistics necessary for this escape project which should have materialized in the summer of 2017. A role supposed that "Pinocchio", escaped twice from the prison of Borgo (Haute-Corse ) in November 1998, then in March 2003, rejected en bloc.
"I never gave away any weapon"
Also according to our information, José Menconi would have admitted having been contacted by "quite a few people" - without giving names - for the supply of "illicit objects".
He explained that "in order not to lose face", he had "pretended to get into the game" of these different interlocutors, but had "never rendered the slightest service".
“That's why I now have the nickname Pinocchio, because I heard these requests, but I never answered them
[…].
I have never given the slightest weapon to anyone and even less to the Faïd family ”, he added during his hearing.
His lawyer, Me Amaury Auzou, emphasizes that his "client has absolutely nothing to do in this case".
“Nor in the potential organization of an escape to Fresnes.
Nor in the one that succeeded in Réau, he insists.
He defends himself on facts for which he is totally foreign and we are going to demonstrate it.
We will take the time to prove his innocence by gathering all the necessary evidence.
"
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And the lawyer recalled that the former robber was "released under judicial control" in this case, which is not trivial.
“Joseph Menconi is touched by this case, adds Me Auzou, because he did not think that we could involve him in this story, because the other indicted are not part of his relations.
"
Indicted in several cases
José Menconi's judicial agenda remains busy, to say the least.
Corsica was also indicted at the beginning of October, as part of an assassination attempt, in September 2018, on a suspected member of Corsican organized crime, Guy Orsoni.
He was placed under judicial supervision in this case.
Justice is particularly questioning its links with the so-called Petit Bar gang in Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud), whose alleged godfather, Jacques Santoni, is suspected of having sponsored this criminal project against the son of Alain Orsoni, the former nationalist leader and ex-president of AC Ajaccio, a Corsican football club.
In this case, José Menconi's police custody was marked by improbable telephone exchanges between the suspect and his companion, which he would have had with the alleged complicity of investigators from the central direction of the judicial police (DCPJ), in charge of his hearing.
Since then, several senior officials of the PJ of Ajaccio have been asked to return to the continent.
Others stationed at the DCPJ in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) could also be sanctioned.
The same José Menconi also saw his judicial control as part of the investigation into a double murder at Bastia-Poretta airport in December 2017, revoked in mid-November.
At the material time, two heavyweights of island banditry, Antoine Quilichini and Jean-Luc Codaccioni, had fallen under the bullets of a single gunman, stationed in ambush in the parking lot of the terminal.
In this case, Pinocchio had been indicted for "criminal association".
Me Amaury Auzou would like to point out that his client also claims his innocence in these two cases in which he was indicted in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône).
He was released on bail on December 2.
