Crime and Media in Contemporary France

Chapter Four: Sensation and Censorship

65 Chapter Four Sensation and Censorship In February of 1988, wanted posters publicizing four pictures of “the crazed killer” (“le tueur fou”) were plastered throughout Parisian metro stations, announcing the police’s progress in putting a face to the man who had murdered a policeman in Toulon and at least two civilians near Annecy. Almost immediately following the issuance of the wanted poster, the killer was identified, and one month later, Roberto Succo was arrested near Venice and placed in a high-security state prison. Within less than 24 hours of his capture, however, Succo escaped from his cell, climbing to the roof of the prison to capture the attention of the international media. Hurling tiles at the journalists below, Succo stripped to his underwear and spoke wildly to the gathering crowd for over an hour. When he eventually fell from the roof and emerged unhurt, Le Figaro called him a “hero” and a “madman” (“héros,” “fou”) (Léridon, “L’Insupportable”). Succo rapidly became a figure of fluid significance. Representing both evil and purity at once, he encapsulated both the fascination and the repulsion characteristic of so many faits divers. Despite his deadly actions, Succo ’s affable personality and highly mediated body afforded him a heroic status, and the testimonies of several young women who called him “nice,” “good-looking,” and “sweet” firmly contrasted with the actions of this cold-blooded killer. As Pascale Froment writes in her detailed journalistic account of the crimes, Je te tue: Histoire vraie de Roberto Succo, assassin sans raison, “the ‘crazed killer’ did not have the mug for the job” (“‘le tueur fou’ n’avait pas la sale gueule de l’emploi”) (221). The wanted photos of Succo, revealing four identities so distinct as to have warranted their simultaneous distribution, further added to this image of a mysterious, slippery identity. In the media’s hurry to grasp this indefinable personage, however, its dogged sensationalization of the criminal reflected considerable impudence. Eager to announce his capture and immediately determine his identity, journalists erroneously attributed Succo’s deeds to another man, misspelled his name as Zucco, and prematurely released his identity to the public, placing his accuser at considerable risk. In another example of journalistic irresponsibility, the discovery of syringes in Succo’s apartment quickly became proof that he was a drug user (“il se drogue”), 66 Chapter Four although this was not the case. News that police had found a single cassette with his voice likewise became several cassettes with a cold and unpredictable voice (“une voix métallique, désaxée”) (d’Arrigo 17); journalists ignored that the importance of the tape lay in its ability to assure Succo’s guilt in a battery charge, instead using this information to try to construct the image of a cold-blooded and detached monster. This journalistic exuberance reflects the shoddy reporting consistent with the contemporary media’s penchant for sensationalism. In this chapter, I analyze the media’s representation of “le tueur de Toulon.” Through a presentation of the historical facts of the fait divers (Succo’s crimes and escapes), an examination of the marketers and producers of the affaire (the media’s efforts to sensationalize the story and to classify Succo), and an understanding of the public that responded to Succo (the labels of “hero” and the noteworthy female attraction to the criminal), it is clear how the media shapes our reading of the criminal . Interrogating the media’s discourse of immediacy, I demonstrate how it guided the public’s fascination with Succo by creating a simplified view of the criminal. In this way, the media obscured the possibility of understanding either his motivations or our parallel fascination. “The Full-Moon Assassin” on the Lam Succo committed his string of crimes in 1987 and 1988, during the time he lived in “Le Petit Chicago,” a sordid area of Toulon. In April of 1987, Succo shot and killed policeman André Castillo in Chambéry, and several weeks later he abducted France Vu-Dinh, whose body was never found, from Sévrier, near Lake Annecy. Succo then shot Michel Astoul, a young doctor living near Sisteron. Again near Lake Annecy, he killed Claudine Duchosal, and finally, during a showdown in a Toulon hotel in early 1988, Succo shot and killed a second policeman, Michel Morandin. Added to this list are several aggressions, rapes, and robberies, most notably that of Nicole Veillet, who was taken hostage from Aix-les-Bains with...