The Jan Piat case: the MP who knew too much

“But what do they want from us, these two? Joe, they’re shooting at us.” These are the last words Yann Piat utters before collapsing into the passenger seat of the Clio. A few seconds earlier, on this Friday in February 1994, a black Renault was driving calmly along the endless twisting road of Mont de Oiseau, on the heights of Hyères, in Var. Luxurious Baccara model with walnut leather seats, height-adjustable seats, air conditioning, satellite radio… Ideal for the special someone who loves comfort but doesn’t want to show it off too much.

Bird Mountain is worth it. Once at the top, the panorama is worth a look. The Belvedere, surrounded by a pine forest, overlooks the Gien Peninsula, with the Hyères Islands visible in the distance. Great view. But UDF MP for the 3rd constituency, Vara, did not have time to admire the scenery that evening. Yann Piat has left his office in the city center and is due to meet his daughter and her friend in Toulon for a film screening. Previously, she wanted to change clothes and shower at home, in Mas bleu, a beautiful villa in Mont de Oiseau with a swimming pool, patio and terraces.

Professional contract »

At the wheel is Georges Arnault, known as Jo, his faithful driver. The climb is riddled with donkeys and he has to go slowly. At 8:08 p.m., a deputy saw two men sitting on a red Yamaha motorcycle. The car must brake to approach a sharp turn. The helmeted duo reaches Clio. The passenger on the motorcycle fired three shots through the rear window. The motorcycle falls. The shooter stands up and approaches the car. He shoots again. Yann Piat is wounded in the chest. Joe is shot in the thigh. He still manages to back up to the turn and then turn back.

The Clio then rolls down the hill towards the Hyères fire station. We are in a hurry. Yann Piat insists on the earth. In vain. At 10:12 p.m., Smur, an emergency medical technician on duty, pronounced the deputy dead. A professional contract,” said the Toulon prosecutor. On February 25, 1994, which became a unique event in the history of the Fifth Republic, a deputy was killed.

Senator and gangster

Yann Piat was a fighter who troubled Var at the time, stricken by corruption. Yannick Marie was born in 1949 in Saigon (today Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), at the height of the Indochina War, to a mother who was an auxiliary in the army; she lost her father, a paratrooper, who died at the age of 5 in battle. His mother then sympathized with a young journalist for a military publication, a certain Jean-Marie Le Pen, a volunteer. The future far-right leader will become the godfather of a young orphan. This proximity would allow Yann Piat to become a candidate in the Vars legislative elections in 1986 under the banner of the National Front. She is chosen. She is under 40 years old.

Two years later, in 1988, Yann Piat was the only elected frontist to retain her seat in the National Assembly. But a quarrel brews with her mentor, and she joins the UDF, the liberal party that dominates the department. The fight for his re-election in 1993 will leave traces that will undoubtedly be fatal. In a short time, the young woman made many enemies. This doesn’t help when she runs for mayor of Hyères. Once elected, she intends to demand the closure of the port’s notorious drug- and gangster-ridden establishments after the morning hours. Racketeering, burning bars, exploding cars, serial settling of scores – this was the daily life of his city for several years. Yann Piat also wants to stick his nose into real estate projects that evoke everyone’s desires, both political and mafia.

The deputy received threats. On March 1, 1993, at the Espace 3000 exhibition center in Hyères, bandits disrupted one of her election meetings and harassed her. They are led by Lieutenant Jean-Louis Farget, known as “Savonnette”, the undisputed godfather of Varus, killed the next day in Italy, who seems to be counting on another favorite in the municipal elections. Yann Piat must leave the premises. I was afraid for my life,” admitted the political leader. A grenade is thrown at his presence. The elected official came into conflict with Joseph (known as Joe) Cercia, the dissident UDF candidate whom she supported in the cantonal elections before distancing herself, and Maurice Arrex, an influential senator and president of the General Council of Var, a close friend of the gangster Fargett. Do they have a connection to his death? They will be placed in police custody without worry.

Who benefits from crime?

However, very quickly two bandits are taken into custody. But they have specific alibis for the night of the crime. The investigation finally unravels thanks to a young woman arrested on a completely different case. While in police custody, on June 1, 1994, she told officers about the “killer story” and promised to tell more if she escaped from prison.

For example, she claims to know who stole the Yamaha used to secure the contract against the deputy. The young woman is referring to the Mac gang,” named after a bar in the port of Hyères where young thugs meet. At their head was Gerard Finale, the manager of the bistro, a mustachioed forty-year-old man who felt that after Farget’s death he was growing wings. Among his henchmen are Marco Di Caro and Lucien Ferri, designated executors of the contract – the first as a motorcycle driver, the second as a shooter. In June 1998, Finale and Ferri were sentenced to life imprisonment, Di Caro to twenty years in prison. But who was the real sponsor of the contract? We’ll probably never know.