Pierre Loutrel (5 March 1916,

Château-du-Loir Château-du-Loir (; literally 'Château of the Loir') is a former commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. On 1 October 2016, it was merged into the new commune Montval-sur-Loir.

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

– 11 November 1946), better known by his nickname of "Pierrot le fou" (Crazy Pete) was France's first "

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number one" and one of the leaders of the '' Gang des tractions''.

Biography

Born into a peasant family, he engaged in petty theft before profiting from the

German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

and using it to develop his criminal activities. From 1941 to 1944, he was a member of the '' Carlingue'', forging a reputation as a cold-blooded murderer and carrying out more and more

summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...

s. He developed links with the underworld of the era, then set up his own network with Raymond Naudy, Abel Danos known as ''Le Mammouth'', Pierre Giblaise, Fernand "''Le Poulet''" and Jo Attia. However, his repeated crimes gradually brought him to the

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's attention. Sensing that the tide was changing, "Pierrot le fou" thus decided to join the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

, getting them into talks with him by gunning down a German officer on the terrace of a café in

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. Upon the Liberation, he renewed his acquaintance with organised crime, getting involved in

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

and

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and gaining a reputation as an unscrupulous crime lord. With his team, he formed the famous '' Gang des tractions'', named after their favoured vehicle, the Citroën 11, the famous ''tractions avant'' (front-drive) cars. Hunted by Roger Borniche, the gang was partly dismantled after a raid in Champigny. It ended up separating and Pierrot le fou, considered to be dangerous and uncontrollable, once again found himself isolated and reduced to petty burglaries. On 6 November 1946, Pierrot, who was drunk, accidentally shot himself in the bladder during a robbery of a Parisian jewellery store on avenue Kléber, after having killed its Armenian owner. He succumbed to his wounds five days later, on 11 November 1946, and his body was buried by his accomplices, being found only three years later by the police on 6 May 1949.

Bibliography

* Grégory Auda, ''Les Belles Années du milieu'', Éditions Michalon, 2002 * Roger Borniche, ''Le Gang'', Fayard, 1975 * Alphonse Boudard, ''Les grands criminels'', Edition du Club France Loisirs, 1989 (chapter 5 : "Pierrot-le-fou ou les lendemains qui flinguent").

References

External links

* In French: (https://www.13emerue.fr/dossier/pierre-loutrel) {{DEFAULTSORT:Loutrel, Pierre 1916 births 1946 deaths Accidental deaths in France Deaths by firearm in France Gestapo personnel Firearm accident victims French Resistance members French murderers French gangsters People from Sarthe Vichy French war criminals