José Menconi, a 55-year-old ex-robber, described as a figure in the Corso-Marseille environment, once close to the Bastia gang of the Brise de Mer, was arrested this Wednesday morning in Nogent-sur-Marne (Val- de-Marne) before being placed in police custody in the premises of the Pontoise gendarmerie (Val-d'Oise).
This operation, in which a dozen suspects were arrested in Corsica and on the continent, concerns cases of laundering the criminal activities of the Petit Bar gang which would involve tens of millions of hidden investments.
In early October, José Menconi, released from prison in June 2016 after spending more than thirteen years behind bars, had already been indicted in connection with an assassination attempt, in September 2018, on an alleged member of the great Corsican banditry, Guy Orsoni.
In this case, the courts reproach him in particular for his 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 the football club AC Ajaccio.
His lawyer says he doesn't know what Menconi is accused of
A file in which the custody of José Menconi, given the nickname Pinocchio, had given rise to improbable telephone calls between the latter and his companion, with the 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.
And since the investigation has been entrusted to the gendarmes of the Isle of Beauty.
His lawyer, Me Amaury Auzou, recalls that he obtained the release of José Menconi in the recent cases for which he was implicated.
But for the time being, his counsel is unaware of what he is accused of because he did not have access to the file.
