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Rédoine Faïd: French gangster recaptured three months after jailbreak | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Rédoine Faïd, a French gangster who broke out of jail using a hijacked helicopter in July, has been recaptured, police sources say. | |
The country's most wanted fugitive, he was detained north of Paris, reportedly with his brother and two men. | The country's most wanted fugitive, he was detained north of Paris, reportedly with his brother and two men. |
Faïd, 46, has called himself a fan of gangster films, which he credits with teaching him how to pull off raids. | |
He was first arrested in 1998 for armed robbery. The 1 July jailbreak was his second and most dramatic escape. | |
He was sprung from a prison in Reau, south-east of Paris, by three heavily armed men who broke into the visitor's room. They then bundled him into a helicopter flown by a flying instructor who had been taken hostage. | |
Faïd had been serving a 25-year sentence for masterminding a botched robbery in which a policewoman was killed in 2010. | |
He was recaptured in the town of Creil. | |
Who is Rédoine Faïd? | |
Born in 1972, he grew up in a rough part of Paris. In the 1990s, he ran a gang involved in armed robbery and extortion. | |
He has said Hollywood movies, such as the Al Pacino thriller Scarface, inspired his lifestyle and some of his schemes. | He has said Hollywood movies, such as the Al Pacino thriller Scarface, inspired his lifestyle and some of his schemes. |
He once approached director Michael Mann - who made the film Heat - at a Paris film festival and told him: "You were my technical adviser." | He once approached director Michael Mann - who made the film Heat - at a Paris film festival and told him: "You were my technical adviser." |
His fame was helped by a 2009 book outlining his younger days on the streets of Paris and his descent into the life of a professional criminal. | |
That earned him the nickname "L'Écrivain" - or "the writer" - among French police. | That earned him the nickname "L'Écrivain" - or "the writer" - among French police. |
Timeline of a jailbreaker | Timeline of a jailbreaker |