The Angels’ Share: Zani partially acknowledges the facts

Jean-Paul Zani, sentenced to ten years in prison at first instance, for the robbery of the manager of the establishment with violence and kidnapping, made a radical reversal, yesterday, on appeal. Thomas Rosano continues, for his part, to deny the facts

The floor has been released in the file The part of the angels, a news item that had marked the Ajaccian region at the time of the events. It was not until yesterday’s appeal hearing, Bastiato hear another version in the mouth of some of the defendants.

“It’s an evolution in this business. Too bad it didn’t happen before,” notes Catherine Levy, the Advocate General, before asking for confirmation of the decision of first instance in her submissions against the two defendants. Or ten years in prison against Jean-Paul Zani and eight years in detention against Thomas Rosano.

If the judgment is put under advisement, the reversal of Jean-Paul Zani changes at least the face of this file. In jeans, dressed in a dark shirt that barely conceals his sporty figure, the 26-year-old young man steps forward to finally speak after his silence at first instance: “I was at The part of the angels that night. I went down to the storeroom to see the manager but didn’t take any money. I threw a pack of water at the manager because he wanted to go back into the room and I got scared. I didn’t want him to come back up.” With these few words, the history degree student recognizes the violence and the kidnapping. He then goes into the details with an affirmative tone, dressed in rapid phrasing: “The four of us took a taxi to party in Ajaccio, like all Ajacciens, without the intention of preparing a crime. My brother (Julien Alessandrini, his half-brother) tells me that the manager of La Part des Anges owes him a debt: “This motherfucker (sic) owes us money, then I’ll go see him.” At the moment, I do not pick up, because my brother speaks indiscriminately.”

“I got scared and threw a pack of water on him”

The team spends the evening in the establishment before things get out of hand: “I see my brother down to the reserve. He then comes back up with the crumpled t-shirt and bloodstains. I tell him : “What did you do, mongolian? Did you hit him?” He answers yes. That’s when I go downstairs to calm things down with the manager. But he wanted to go back. I got scared and threw a water pack on him. Going back to his state, I told myself that there were going to be problems. My brother made a plaster. I wanted the party to end and everyone to go home.”

The civil party is not there to confirm or deny his statements. His advice did not move either.

The prisoner then expresses his regrets: “After the facts, I was more ashamed than anything. I regret that. It doesn’t make me happy to have participated in that. It’s a matter of discussion that went wrong and I never thought that it was going to take on these proportions.”

With this testimony, Jean-Paul Zani establishes a hierarchy where his brother takes a much more important place in the commission of the facts. If he refuses to directly implicate Julien Alessandrini, M^e Denis Fayolle, his counsel, is responsible for guiding him: “Is your brother impulsive and causing a lot of trouble? It’s important to know in order to understand.”

The young man gives an example as a personality element: “He’s the kind of person who puts a Facebook status: “I have a baccalaureate +12 violence.” We have found ourselves in stories before. I was always the one channeling it. He sees black very quickly and I try to calm him down.”

Julien Alessandrini was notably sentenced in 2012 by the special Assize Court of Paris to an 18-month suspended prison sentence in the so-called “young cell” case of the FLNC-Union des Combattants, accused of having committed fifteen attacks in 2007 and 2008 in Corse-du-Sud. Jean-Paul Zani is a legal recidivism for a conviction in connection with aggravated violence.

Same thing for Thomas Rosano, whose record has four convictions, two of which for violence in meetings and attempted extortion. Sufficient to initiate legal recidivism. He is also indicted in connection with the assassination of Alexandre Giacopelli, in June 2020 in Ajaccio. The 26-year-old detainee, almost shaved head, with the physique of a rugby player, totally denies the facts: “I neither stole nor kidnapped. I saw the manager at the end of the evening in the reserve because everyone was looking for him. He was on the ground and I took care of him. I was shocked to see him. see like this. No one else treated him or called for help.”

Remarks corroborated by the manager of La Part des Anges during the procedure and highlighted by M^e Dominique Paolini, lawyer for Thomas Rosano, who reads the testimony to the court: “The fourth (Thomas Rosano) didn’t show any violence towards me. He was very calming. I think my attackers must have just asked him to watch me. He didn’t know what happened passed, he was panicked.”

“We don’t scare anyone”

Thomas Rosano, like Jean-Paul Zani, also intends to dismantle the racketeering scenario brought by the prosecution: “We don’t scare anyone, loose Jean-Paul Zani. We are puppets. There were 700 people at that party. And no witness saw me pass behind the cash register. We are not on Netflix where we can silence several hundred people.”

Not enough to convince the Advocate General, always offensive in his requisitions: “There is an organization and a co-action in this violence which also allows the theft of the cash register. Perhaps Mr. Alessandrini was directing all this. You are young men with a criminal record which is not very full but which takes the path. It’s amazing to find you there because you are smart not to go into a life of thugs.”

M^e Dominique Paolini, adviser to Thomas Rosano, protests against these requisitions: “We are asking for eight years in prison while he denies the facts and the victim exonerates him. This file is an abysmal void. It is an evening with 700 people and no one has seen anything. It is grotesque. I have no shame in asking for a release.” M^e Denis Fayolle, lawyer for Jean-Paul Zani, wants to dismantle the background noise of this file which says “that it’s a case of racketeering with young people who reign terror. Mr. Zani grew up with a brother who commits crimes and misdemeanors. A big brother he loves. That’s the complexity of Jean -Paul Zani. He reacted badly because he didn’t want his brother to have problems. He is guilty but not up to ten years in prison.”

Before the judgment is put under deliberation on March 30, Jean-Paul Zani still has a few words for the victim: “I feel remorse because I ruined someone’s life. I want a second chance to get back to normal life.”