Strategically situated in the heart of Western Europe, France has had a vibrant and robust organized criminal underworld since at least the early 1920s. More commonly referred to by the French themselves as Le Milieu, the country’s underworld is said to have never been completely controlled by any one single criminal organization.
Instead, Le Milieu was composed of many independent and semi-independent criminal gangs and splintered factions of varied size and strength who generally operated independently but sometimes also collaborated with each other. Collectively, France’s underworld operated a myriad of diverse criminal activities.
Despite their seeming independence from one another, most of these small criminal gangs and clans operated under the overarching umbrella of the French-Corsican Mafia, who were always recognized as the most prominent and powerful criminal entity within Le Milieu.
More commonly referred to as Milieu Corse in France, members of the French-Corsican Mafia were known to dabble in countless criminal pursuits over the years.
Operating similarly to the Italian Cosa Nostra in this manner, through the years their activities have included narcotics trafficking on a fantastic scale; organized prostitution; illegal gambling; licensed gambling casinos; counterfeiting currency, stocks and bonds, passports and other official government documents; loan-sharking; auto theft; cargo theft; jewel heists; bank robberies; cigarette and diamond smuggling, extortion; protection rackets; stolen and forged securities; financial frauds; business infiltration and racketeering; waterfront dock rackets; weapons trafficking; official corruption; police bribery; and contract murder.
But without doubt it was their deep involvement in the drug trade — specifically, the smuggling of opium base into France from the Middle East for conversion into morphine and heroin, which their worldwide networks then smuggled and distributed on a wholesale basis to underworld associates in other European countries and to overseas destinations such as South America, Canada, and the United States — with a special emphasis on the United States which is where the vast majority of their deadly product was destined for.
In furtherance of these goals, the Corsicans usually worked hand-in-glove with their counterparts in the Italian and Italian-American Mafia, who were the main receivers/customers of the Corsicans. Operating across the entire country, the American Mafia alone controlled a nationwide network required to successfully distribute the heroin received by them into the American marketplace, from the wholesalers, right on down to the retail consumption — the addicts.
Note: This article includes a comprehensive chart listing 395 names of members and affiliates who played a key role at one time or another within the overall “French Connection” and France’s criminal underworld — Le Milieu. In addition, we’ve included a picture gallery featuring more than 140 photos.
