Jacky Imbert
| Jacques Imbert | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 30, 1929 Toulouse, France |
| Other names | Jacky Le Mat |
| Occupation | -Infantryman -Trotting trainer and driver -Stuntman -Night club public relations -Shipyard manager |
Jacques "Jacky Le Mat" Imbert (born December 30, 1929) is a French gang leader who first came to prominence in 1960s Marseille's underworld, where he is still considered "The Last Godfather". His nickname "Jacky Le Mat" means "Jacky the madman" in Provençal. He is also known as "Pacha" and "Matou".
Imbert was born in Toulouse, the son of an aviation worker with a passion for opera. Imbert was sentenced to five years in prison in 1947 for an assault on his mother-in-law's lover in a Montpellier bar, but served less than two due to good conduct.
On his time in prison, he later declared:
The first true damned stupidity of my life, I had hit my mother-in-law's lover a little too hard. I got five years! The prison, this is the place where I met the biggest number of tossers. A pack of pathetic ones, of losers. But I was put in a cell with a true tough guy. I said: "This is it, my path"
The "tough guy" was Gustave Méla, nicknamed "Gu le Terrible", another criminal that would become notorious in the 1960s. Whilst in prison Imbert decided on the nickname Jacky Le Mat, meaning "Jacky the bottom" or "Jacky the Madman" in the slang of the time.
In 1948 Imbert enrolled in the French Army and spent four years in the 15e Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais in Oran, French Algeria. He was discharged for having a "character incompatible with military regulations".
At the start of the 1950s Imbert joined the Bande des Trois Canards, the "gang of the three ducks", so named after the cabaret club which was their den. The gang specialised in burglaries, hold-ups and racketeering, and was said to have built a cellar in their club in which people who resisted paying protection money would be tortured. It was while he was in this gang, mainly composed of Marseille Italians, that Imbert met another future gang leader, Tany Zampa, with whom he would forge a close friendship. Other members were Marius Bertella, Gégène le Manchot (Gégène the one armed) and Gaétan Alboréo. It was with them that the young Imbert learned the strings of the trade, becoming a central element of the team thanks to his self-control and his determination.
Imbert's legitimate work during this period was as a stunt driver, also taking part in races on Marseille's Old Harbour. He became known as a womaniser, with two marriages and six mistresses.
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