You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (April 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 6,130 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Gang de la Brise de Mer]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Gang de la Brise de Mer}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The gang de la Brise de Mer was one of the most powerful Corsican criminal organizations. Based in Northern Corsica, the gang controls various activities (racketeering, slots machines traffic, laundering, night clubs, gambling clubs, casinos, etc.) in Corsica, but also in the South of France, in Paris, in Italy, in Occidental African countries ( Gabon, Mali, Cameroon, etc.), and in Latin American countries.

The gang's moniker came from a Bastia cafe called La Brise de Mer ("the sea breeze"), where they held meetings throughout the 1970s.

The gang is well known for its spectacular, violent armed robberies in Corsica, France and the rest of Europe. The robbery of the UBS bank in Geneva, Switzerland in 1990; the attack on a Securipost trunk in 1991 and the robbery of Air France Mercure in 1992 are probably the most important robberies of the gang.

The "Brise de Mer" is also suspected of involvement in the murders in 2001 of members of Armata Corsa, a separatist Corsican armed group.

Around ten families or clans constitute the "Brise de Mer" organization. Its capital is estimated to be between 120 and 150 million Euros. This money is invested in Corsica (in illegal activities like racketeering etc. but also legal activities like tourism and construction business) and the rest of France, through the running of night clubs, bars and illegal slots machines (principally in the Southern France cities like Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Toulon) and gambling clubs in Paris. Other investments are casino activities in Africa, Latin America and Italy.

In 2001, several gangsters escaped from a prison near Bastia by sending fake faxes from a judge ordering their release. ^[1]

Since 2008, several important suspected members of the gang (Richard Casanova, Daniel Vittini, Francis Mariani, Pierre-Marie Santucci) have been killed during violent conflicts among the various Corsican gangs. ^[2]

References