Jacques MESRINE / Autographed Letter Signed / Badinter / Death Instinct / 1977

  

Autographed letter signed "EL VIEJO" to his mistress Jeanne Schneider Fresnes Prison, "QHS" March 3, 1977, 2 pp. Mesrine is furious with Robert Badinter following his objection to the publication of L'Instinct de mort.

The Public Enemy Number 1 is nonetheless enthusiastic about the positive feedback from journalists and counts on a broad editorial success. "I wrote a letter to Badinter to put him in his place! But not from a guy like him." This morning on RTL radio.

Very good what was said by a journalist. It is certain that it will be a literary success. He even added that already in the salons they were talking about "L'Instinct de mort.] I wrote a letter to Badinter to put him in his place! But not from a guy like him, who is paid to defend Michel (I believe) [Adrouin, once a accomplice of Mesrine].

Saturday you will tell me the first reactions. I am eagerly awaiting the results in Canada [.] I would like it to work to see the face of [Henri] Lafont and his regrets! Lattès pleases me, because it is a "fighter" who pushes forward in publishing. We were right to choose him [.] I expect terrible reviews and even insulting letters if they are signed! Have you given any to your friends? You will tell me the reactions OK.] This morning when I woke up I found that my cell had a good smell.

It's your scent my dear! It's a bit of you that I breathe! And I have that and above all a very great confidence in the future [.] We will have to shake the lawyers so that things move.

We are not asking for anything exceptional. We want a representative from the ministry in court and an improvement in our detention, because we are not here for 2 months! Otherwise everything is OK, I am a little tired tonight and my head is empty.

It's not just you my angel. I'll see you on Saturday, all smiles! Your old crook plants on your lips sweet kisses of love. Jacques Mesrine meets Jeanne Schneider in 1968. She is a call-girl, whose pimps were shot by Mesrine, according to his words. After committing several thefts in Europe, they flee to Quebec and continue their criminal activities. They spend several years in prison, despite the couple's acquittal following the murder of Évelyne Le Bouthilier (owner of a motel in Percé where the Mesrine-Schneider couple had stayed the night of the murder). Returning to France to serve her sentence at Fleury-Mérogis in early 1973, Jeanne learns that Mesrine has just been arrested in Boulogne-Billancourt and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The two lovers then maintain a loving correspondence. Tired of this gangster life, Jeanne Schneider eventually settles down and breaks up while he is still in prison. Mesrine does not stop, vehemently condemns his detention conditions, and escapes. He falls under the bullets of the BRI after 16 months on the run, on November 2, 1979, at the age of 42.