solved
Other violent crime
November 2, 1979
Perpetrator
Jacques Mesrine
Jacques Mesrine (1936-1979) was a notorious French criminal who carried out numerous armed robberies, kidnappings, murders, and prison escapes across France and Canada over roughly two decades. Dubbed 'the man of a thousand faces' for his use of disguises, he taunted authorities and gave press interviews while a fugitive. He was France's most wanted man before being killed by police in Paris in November 1979.
Victims
- Évelyne Le Bouthillier
- Two forest rangers (guards)
Location
Porte de Clignancourt, Boulevard Ney, Paris, France
Summary
Jacques Mesrine, France's most wanted fugitive, was a violent career criminal whose crime spree ended when police ambushed and killed him in Paris in November 1979.
Details
Jacques Mesrine was a French armed robber, kidnapper and murderer active in France and Canada from the 1960s through 1979, repeatedly escaping from custody and courting publicity. He was implicated in several killings during robberies, escapes and feuds, though the exact number attributed to him remains disputed. On 2 November 1979, police of the Brigade de recherche et d'intervention ambushed him at the Porte de Clignancourt in Paris, opening fire on his vehicle and killing him alongside his companion's injury. His death ended one of France's most infamous criminal careers.
Background
Jacques Mesrine was born on 28 December 1936 in Clichy, near Paris, into a middle-class family. After an undistinguished youth, he served in the French Army during the Algerian War in the late 1950s, an experience often cited in biographical accounts as formative to his later capacity for violence, though Mesrine himself frequently embellished his exploits. On returning to civilian life he drifted into petty crime, then graduated to armed robbery and burglary, becoming a professional criminal by the early 1960s.
Over roughly two decades, Mesrine built a reputation as a flamboyant and audacious outlaw who operated across France, Canada and elsewhere. He styled himself as a kind of anti-establishment figure and cultivated a public persona through interviews and a self-aggrandizing memoir, 'L'Instinct de mort' (The Death Instinct), written while imprisoned. French authorities, by contrast, regarded him as a dangerous and ruthless career criminal responsible for robberies, kidnappings and killings.
The Crimes
Mesrine's criminal career encompassed numerous armed bank robberies, kidnappings for ransom and prison escapes carried out over the 1960s and 1970s, spanning France and Canada. He was repeatedly arrested and repeatedly escaped, which fueled his notoriety and embarrassed the authorities pursuing him. His ability to evade capture and to break out of high-security facilities became central to his legend.
Mesrine was linked to several killings, although the exact number attributed to him is disputed and was often inflated both by the press and by Mesrine's own boasting. Documented and alleged violence included the deaths of accomplices, victims and others connected to his criminal activities. In one widely reported episode, he sought revenge against a journalist who had written critically of him, abducting and assaulting the man. By the late 1970s the French government had designated him 'public enemy number one.'
Escapes and Manhunt
Mesrine became internationally known for his dramatic prison escapes. In 1972 he escaped from custody in Canada, and he later attempted a daring return to free other inmates from a Quebec penitentiary. His most celebrated escape in France came in May 1978, when he broke out of La Santé Prison in Paris, an event that intensified the nationwide manhunt and cemented his status as a folk-criminal celebrity in some quarters of the public imagination.
During his final period at large, Mesrine continued to commit robberies and kidnappings while taunting authorities through the media. He gave interviews, posed for photographs and threatened to take violent action against the state. French police, under intense political pressure to end his spree, mounted an extensive operation to locate and capture him, eventually tracking his movements in and around Paris.
The Ambush and Death
On 2 November 1979, French police ambushed Mesrine at the Porte de Clignancourt in northern Paris. Officers from the anti-gang brigade (Brigade de recherche et d'intervention), led by Commissaire Robert Broussard, intercepted his vehicle, a BMW, after he had been followed. A truck was reportedly used to block him in traffic, and police opened fire on the car, killing Mesrine. His companion, Sylvie Jeanjacquot, who was in the vehicle, was wounded in the shooting.
The killing was immediate and overwhelming, with Mesrine struck by numerous bullets. The operation drew significant public and legal debate in France over whether police had carried out an extrajudicial execution rather than attempting an arrest. Authorities maintained that Mesrine was armed and considered extremely dangerous, justifying the lethal force used. The circumstances of his death remain a point of historical controversy.
Aftermath and Legacy
Mesrine's death ended one of the most high-profile criminal manhunts in modern French history. The dramatic manner of his killing, combined with his self-mythologizing during life, ensured his enduring place in French popular culture. His memoir, the extensive press coverage and subsequent books kept his story in circulation for decades.
In 2008, his life was dramatized in a two-part French film, 'Mesrine: Killer Instinct' and 'Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1,' starring Vincent Cassel, which renewed public interest in the case. Mesrine remains a controversial figure: viewed by some as a charismatic rebel and by others, including law enforcement and his victims' families, as a violent and manipulative criminal. Historians caution that many details of his exploits derive from his own embellished accounts and contemporaneous sensational reporting, making it difficult to separate documented fact from legend.
