Word: cesari
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...York by clandestine carriers as diverse as diplomatic pouches and the Air France stewardess caught three years ago with the stuff in her bra. Balding little Louis Lavalette, chief of the police judiciare for Southern France, has long had a good hunch who was behind the operation: "Monsieur Jean" Cesari, a quick-witted courtly Corsican who, in 20 years of flitting through the Marseille milieu with few visible sources of income, has nonetheless managed to acquire both a 1,000-acre Riviera estate and a handsome $50,000 villa near Aubagne guarded by five fierce police dogs...
When Lavalette's agents seized 242 lbs. of morphine base concealed in a cargo of goatskins from Turkey eleven months ago, the chief decided enough was enough, set out to nail Cesari once and for all. He disguised a score of Marseille cops as everything from priests and petanque players to taxi drivers and dockers, often had them make quick changes at midday while they shadowed Cesari and his henchmen. Several times they discovered raw morphine on incoming freighters ticketed to Cesari's hirelings (one shipment was packed in a carton of snails). But the police were unable...
...Veritable Factory. Veran told his neighbors he planned to raise chickens and vegetables, but in fact he soon began receiving regular visits from Cesari and curious deliveries from a variety of vehicles. Police agents furtively photographed all the visitors to the farmhouse until Lavalette had what he happily called "an international family album of drug smugglers." Then he moved in for the kill...
...Etait Formidable. Confident that he would be dealing "not with imbecilic bandits but with sensible men who would reflect before acting," Lavalette and his raiders carried no weapons except their prop shotguns. Living up to these expectations, Cesari offered no resistance and, as Lavalette remembered the dialogue, declared solemnly: "Monsieur, permit me to offer you my hand so that I may congratulate you and your men on your job. C'était formidable.'" Replied Lavalette: "Man cher, I accept your congratulations, and I extend you my own. Thanks to you, I have accomplished the most beautiful affair that...