UNDERWORLD WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1938, Page 8

UNDERWORLD WAR

MURDERS BY DESPERADOES IN FRANCE TWO MOTORISTS RUN DOWN AND KILLED ESCAPING CAR SET ON FIRE BY POLICE By Telegraph—Press Association. Copyright. (Recd This Day, 11.35 a.m.) CANNES, July 10. A four-year-old underworld feud between Parisian gangsters caused three deaths last night. It had already been responsible for three murders. The feud started in the “Dead Rat” cabaret in Montmarte at Christmas, 1934, when a boy named Keusch was killed. His father, Foata Keusch, accused Jean Stefani, but while the latter was awaiting trial, his brother, Etienne Stefani. was found shot. Jean was acquitted in 1935, as no witnesses appeared. Foata Keusch lay in wait for him at a cemetery, when Jean was visiting his wife’s grave, fired at him and missed. Keusch was subsequently sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, but Jean Stefani was killed in a Montmarte street last year by a man who was acquitted after pleading self-defence. The latest crime is believed to have been an “execution” by the Stefani gang, two of whom ambushed a 30-year-old Parisian, poured 11 bullets into his head and stomach, dashed off in a car without lights and ran down andi killed' two motorists repairing a tyre on the roadside at Cagnes. The police barred the way at a level crossing, but the driver ignored the signal to halt. The police fired. A bullet pierced the petrol'tank and set fire to the car. The occupants leapt out and disappeared in the darkness. The Parisian shot dead was Andre Marguin, who killed Jean Steftmi. Keusch’s son was killed by a volley aimed at his father, Foata, who was carrying on a vendetta. In attempting to shoot Jean Stefani, Foata hid behind a tombstone and wounded one of Stefani’s bodyguard. He was then felled by a grave-digger with a wooden cross.