The film “La French”, directed by Cédric Jimenez with Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche, looks back on the fight led by judge Pierre Michel to bring down the “French Connection” in the 1970s.
[Mis à jour le 16 janvier 2023 à 20h55] France 3 broadcasts The French by Cédric Jimenez this Monday, January 16, 2023 at 9:10 p.m. This feature film worn by Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche retraces the true story of the fight led by judge Pierre Michel to put an end to the trafficking of La French Connection directed by Gaëtan Zampa. In 1975, the magistrate was sent to Marseille to put an end to the crimes (pimping, racketeering, robberies, drug trafficking, etc.) of the man who was better known under the pseudonyms of “Tany Zampa” and Don Gaetano.
The arrival of Judge Michel gave rise to numerous arrests in the heart of the Marseille city. But the magistrate was assassinated on October 21, 1981, in the middle of the street. After four years of investigation, the killer is found: it is François Checchi on a motorcycle driven by Charles Altiéri, and the murder was ordered by François Girard and Homère Filippi, both associated with the French Connection. Note that François Checchi and Charles Altiéri were released from detention in 2014, the first under the semi-freedom regime, the second on parole under an electronic bracelet. For his part, Gaëtan Zampa was imprisoned in 1983 for tax offences. He died on August 16, 1984 after a mysterious suicide attempt.
Synopsis – 1970s. The French Connection reigns supreme over Marseille traffic. Pierre Michel is transferred to put an end to the activities of the mafia organization and those of Gaëtan Zampa, his godfather. Despite his youth in the profession, Pierre Michel will adapt to the methods of the French to bring them down. A new film about the French Connection, the largest trafficking network of all kinds in the 1970s. Organized criminals ready to do anything to make their drug, prostitution or gambling business profitable. A charismatic judge determined to restore the order in Marseilles. A confrontation between two great mythical figures of crime and justice, which will end in the death of one and the imprisonment of the other, and the end of an era.