Public Enemy No. 1: Jacques Mesrine — the Bank Robber France Declared War On (8 photos)

Jacques Mesrine has inspired numerous books and feature films, yet in France, his legacy remains deeply divisive. To some, he was a revolutionary anarchist who dared to challenge the establishment; to others, he was the most infamous outlaw in French history, linked to as many as 40 murders.





War Veteran

Jacques-René Mesrine was born in 1936 in a suburb of Paris. He attended the prestigious Catholic Collège de Juilly but was expelled after breaking a teacher's ear in a fight. At 19, Mesrine married and joined the military. Fearless and physically imposing, the young recruit was assigned to special forces and deployed to the Algerian War—a conflict in which French commandos earned a reputation for brutal counter-insurgency tactics.



Jacques Mesrine during his military service in Algeria

Returning to France in 1959, the Algerian War veteran married for the second time. Along with the Cross for Military Valour, he brought back a complete disregard for human life and a .45-caliber pistol. Mesrine soon turned to armed robbery alongside three accomplices, landing in prison for 18 months in 1962 after a failed bank heist. Upon his release, his parents found their volatile son a job at an architectural firm, but his criminal nature quickly resurfaced.

Flight to Canada

Despite being accused of espionage by the Spanish government, Mesrine managed to open a restaurant in the Canary Islands in 1966. He seamlessly blended legitimate business with crime, robbing a jewelry store in Geneva, a hotel in the Alpine resort of Chamonix, and a fashion house in Paris. In 1968, he fled to Canada with his mistress, where he soon drew the attention of law enforcement after attempting to kidnap billionaire Georges Deslauriers for ransom alongside his new partner-in-crime, Jean-Paul Mercier.

The pair was captured in the United States and extradited to Canada. Before their arrest, the fugitives had murdered an elderly housekeeper. Both Mesrine and Mercier were sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1972, the duo staged a daring prison break along with five fellow inmates, promising as they fled that they would return to liberate the rest.





Jacques Mesrine in Canada

In Montreal, the gang hit several banks before launching a brazen armed assault on the prison itself on September 3, 1972. The attackers wounded two guards during the shootout but failed to breach the facility. A massive manhunt ensued. Mesrine and Mercier evaded capture, shooting and killing two Canadian forest rangers in the process, before flying to Venezuela under fake identities with their mistresses.

Return to France

A year later, Mesrine slipped back into Paris. After shooting a police officer in a local bar, he was apprehended. In May 1973, the legendary outlaw was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Before the verdict was delivered, an associate smuggled a revolver to him in court; Mesrine took the presiding judge hostage and escaped through a window to a waiting getaway car. Recaptured four months later, he was sent back to maximum security, where he penned his autobiography, *The Death Instinct*.



His knack for master disguises earned him the tabloid nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces"

After serving five years, he escaped once again—and went on a wild spree. Mesrine raided banks, casinos, and shopping centers, and kidnapped high-profile victims for ransom. A master of disguise who never hesitated to pull the trigger, he was linked by police to at least 39 murders.

Public Enemy No. 1

In 1978, Mesrine ignited a media frenzy by giving a clandestine interview to *Paris Match*. Speaking through reporters, he demanded that the French government abolish all high-security prison units and threatened to assassinate Interior Minister Christian Bonnet. The press dubbed him "Public Enemy No. 1." By November 2, 1979, French police had finally tracked him down.



Jacques Mesrine posing for a *Paris Match* photographer

As Mesrine and his mistress were driving through Paris in his BMW, a tarpaulin-covered truck blocked their path. When the outlaw brought his vehicle to a stop, 19 armed officers leapt from the truck and opened fire to kill. To ensure he was dead, an officer delivered a point-blank shot to the bloody outlaw's head.

Photos from the scene of Jacques Mesrine's fatal ambush

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Police faced heavy public backlash for failing to give Mesrine a chance to surrender. Authorities defended the ambush, maintaining that the criminal was exceptionally dangerous and that commanders could not risk the lives of officers to take him alive.