Two years after the murder of Paul-Félix Paoli, manager of a beach restaurant, on the night of 23-24 August 2023 in Poggio Mezzana (Upper Corsica), a sixth person was charged in the case, AFP learned this Sunday.
Philippe Ficaja, 58, was charged and placed in pre-trial detention for “organized gang murder” and “criminal conspiracy with intent to commit a crime” by judges of the Special Interregional Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Marseille, the Marseille prosecutor’s office said, confirming information from France 3 Corse Via Stella.
A mafia boss who becomes a collaborator of justice
His name appears in a report from the information, intelligence and strategic analysis service on organized crime (Sirasco), attached to a “criminal team” led by another nationalist, Cédric Courbey, who is also charged in the case.
Several men were arrested and later charged in this affair following the exposure of Marco Raduano, an Italian convert, who was presented as a mafia leader in the Puglia region. The latter, about forty years old, was arrested on February 1, 2024 in Aleria (Haute-Corse), while he was on the run, before becoming a collaborator of justice.
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Against the reduced sentence afforded by his penitent status in Italy, he confessed to being the mastermind behind the Poggio-Mezzana murders, but also other murders in Italy.
The victim was known to be in financial arrears
Stéphane Angelotti, who later committed suicide in prison, Jérôme Reggeti and Cédric Courbey, were indicted and placed in pre-trial detention for “murder by an organized gang” and “criminal association” in the case, following statements of repentance. These three men always denied the facts.
Another island resident, Marco Furfaro, was extradited to Italy and sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison in October by a court in Cagliari, Sardinia, for helping Marco Raduano escape. Paul-Félix Paoli, 51, was murdered in the summer of 2023 at around one in the morning, in the parking lot of the “La Caravelle” building in Poggio-Mezzana.
The victim, who was the manager of the beach restaurant, was not well known to the justice system, “both for common law actions and financial crimes”, Bastia prosecutors told AFP at the time of the incident. According to the judge, this man is also the head of several companies operating especially in the real estate sector.
