The man, shot down during his jogging, was unknown to the police and gendarmerie services. The investigation will be oriented, in particular, towards the mafia track.
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Man had his habits. Every two days at the same time and according to an ever-changed route, he ran near the village of Venzolasca (Haute-Corse) where he lived. Wednesday, August 10, around 9 p.m., François-Xavier Poli, 38, earthmoving entrepreneur, father of two daughters aged 12 and 9, did not deviate from this habit. Badly took him. He was killed by several bullets taken from two distinct long weapons on the track he borrowed during his jogging. Helmet on the ears, he probably did not hear his killers approach.
He was discovered around 9:30 p.m. The village mayor, Balthazar Federici, had gone to seek him after being alerted by the victim’s partner. “She phoned this elected official, because she was worried not to see her companion returning,” said the public prosecutor of Bastia, Arnaud Viornery, joined by Le Monde. According to the latter and the gendarmes responsible for the investigation, François-Xavier Poli was unknown to the police and gendarmerie services.
In the hour which followed the discovery of the body, a burned vehicle was found in the town of Canale-Di-Verde (Haute-Corse), located about forty kilometers from Venzolasca. According to investigators, there is a probability that it is the one on which the authors of this assassination circulated.
Venzolasca, stronghold of a dreaded clan
Venzolasca is not a completely ordinary village of Casinca. This micro-region, located above the eastern plain, is the stronghold of one of the most feared mafia clans on the island, that known as “Venzolasca shepherds”, on which the Federici family imposes its domination. Three brothers in this family have been registered for many years in the Banditry file. Angel-Toussaint, considered by investigators as the chief of the clan, and Jean-François are serving long sentences of imprisonment for assassinations. A third, Frédéric, was condemned on several occasions for association of criminals.
Finally, the fourth of the siblings, Balthazar, mayor of the commune, is a former territorial adviser from Corsica, elected on the lists of the ex-president of the island executive Paul Giacobbi, who was radical deputy on the left . Balthazar’s first assistant at the town hall of Venzolasca is Antoine Poli, alias Tony. According to the first elements of the investigation, he is a cousin far from the victim. Their respective fathers were German cousins.
A little over a month ago, another entrepreneur was the victim of an assassination in Corsica. On Friday, June 24, Jean-Christophe Mocchi, a owner of Propriano (Corse-du-Sud), judge at the Commercial Court of Ajaccio, fell under the bullets of a killer, while he was dining in a Restaurant of the Valinco seaside city.
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