World's Greatest Jailbreak Artist

April 27, 2021 4:46 PM

The secrets of the world's greatest jailbreak artist. Master criminal Rédoine Faïd loved the movies, and his greatest crimes were laced with tributes: to Point Break, Heat, and Reservoir Dogs. When he landed in a maximum-security prison, cinema provided inspiration once again.
posted by goatdog (16 comments total)

Crazy story.
posted by Windopaene at 6:00 PM on April 27, 2021

"It's a kind of mise-en-scène—soigné, efficient, precise,” he says. “You have to be able to stop time.”

I'd bet a1000 francs he has a copy of 'Rififi' hidden.
The US had Willie Sutton.
"sentenced to serve 25–50 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, for a machine gun robbery of the Corn Exchange Bank...He and other prisoners dressed as prison guards and escaped via ladders across the prison yard to the wall."

Faïd had an old nick: ' King of the Kalashnikovs'.
posted by clavdivs at 6:01 PM on April 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

What a horrible, poisonous, self–destructive individual. How many lives has he ruined, and for what? A tiny cell and regular strip searches.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:28 PM on April 27, 2021

I bet last year's best true-life jailbreak movie: Escape From Pretoria is at the top of his Amazon Prime viewing queue.
posted by fairmettle at 11:52 PM on April 27, 2021

Fascinating story, despite the traumatized and even killed people in his wake. I read the story and went to look up the Réau penitentiary on Google Maps. The aerial photos are pixellated. Same on Bing Maps. And also on the third site I tried.
posted by Harald74 at 4:10 AM on April 28, 2021

As far as I can tell he just took stuff and anybody hurt was in line with movie plots.

According to the article he was found responsible for the death of Aurélie Fouquet's, a 26 year old police officer with a baby daughter. And here's how they terrorised the helicopter pilot:

The men wore black ski masks and paramilitary combat gear and they rattled off Buy's home address, the pilot later explains. Another commando, they told him, was stationed outside his home. If he didn't cooperate, both his partner and her daughter would pay the price.

Movie plots are for movies; these people are violent thugs.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:22 AM on April 28, 2021 [5 favorites]

Yeah, I can tell who read TFA and who didn't.

Maugard, who had spent his career chasing the biggest gangland figures in the Parisian underworld, recognized in Faïd a singular adversary. “Faïd is the first time I came across that type of a character: someone who lives his criminal life as though it's out of a screenplay,” he told Special Correspondent, a French investigative-news program, in 2018. “And that's where he's truly dangerous. We all know that a film lasts an hour and a half or two hours, and then everybody goes home. But he's caused lasting trauma. When Aurélie Fouquet died, it was a powerful illustration of his non-mastery of the circumstances. Because at that point, we entered the real. It wasn't a movie anymore.”

posted by Halloween Jack at 5:29 AM on April 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Prosecutors not only accused him of this robbery but also argued that he was responsible for the aborted heist that subsequently led to Aurélie Fouquet's death. Though he didn't shoot her and wasn't even accused of being at the scene of the crime, he was, they said, the “organizer” and “instigator” of the operation. The court agreed, finding him guilty. His appeals failed. Faïd would ultimately be sentenced to 53 years for the events that caused Fouquet's death and for the Arras robbery.

Cool of you to let him off the hook, though. {/}
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:29 AM on April 28, 2021

"Qui est le plus grand criminel : celui qui vole une banque ou celui qui en fonde?" Macheath's crimes (in Brecht's version) went a long way beyond heisting, but he had a fair point.

Movie plots are for movies; these people are violent thugs.

Fair enough. I trust we can agree that the same goes for any stories about good cops.
posted by Not A Thing at 8:37 AM on April 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Security guru Bruce Schneier noted the interesting use of cell phone logs:

After Faïd’s helicopter breakout, 3,000 police officers took part in the manhunt. According to the 2019 documentary La Traque de Rédoine Faïd, detective units scoured records of cell phones used during his escape, isolating a handful of numbers active at the time that went silent shortly thereafter.

posted by Harald74 at 12:27 AM on May 1, 2021

Many people were shot, one died. Others lived through terrifying events. He certainly shouldn't be free, bizarre to say that.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:16 AM on May 1, 2021

a gentleman theif to say would not use a fire arm. That's hardcore, even Sutton used a gun but never fired it, could be wrong one that but it's Unethical for a thief to use a gun. Rudensky, another American pro thief and jail breaker didn't use a gun but he free lanced for Capone, The purple gang and others. He didn't need one. I dont think Mason used one either.
Rudensky and Mason have done well to make amends for the crimes they did. Doesn't excuse anything but allows individual redemption and an example to society that even the best thief will most likely be caught.
posted by clavdivs at 12:00 PM on May 2, 2021

Holding people hostage with guns to their heads is a terrifying act that the victims will never forget. Very strange apologia for a criminal here, very unusual.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:20 AM on May 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Also, you are wrong.

Prosecutors not only accused him of this robbery but also argued that he was responsible for the aborted heist that subsequently led to Aurélie Fouquet's death. Though he didn't shoot her and wasn't even accused of being at the scene of the crime, he was, they said, the “organizer” and “instigator” of the operation. The court agreed, finding him guilty. His appeals failed. Faïd would ultimately be sentenced to 53 years for the events that caused Fouquet's death and for the Arras robbery.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:22 AM on May 3, 2021

Very strange apologia for a criminal here, very unusual.

I believe your referring to Faïd and others who use firearms in the commission of a felony which usually carries a mandatory sentence in and of itself to the additional charges.
posted by clavdivs at 3:44 PM on May 3, 2021

Just letting you know you're were asserting incorrect facts about his conviction. Let's keep it correct.
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:24 AM on May 6, 2021