Unione Corse
| Founded | 1920s |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Marseille, France |
| Years active | 1920s–present |
| Territory | France (mainly Corsica and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) |
| Ethnicity | Corsican and Italian French |
| Criminal activities | Racketeering, drug trafficking, gambling, extortion, robbery, loan sharking, weapons trafficking, pimping, fraud, murder, bribery and fencing |
| Allies | Italian-American, Sicilian and Campanian mafias |
| Rivals | Frank Lucas Gang |
The so-called Unione Corse is a secret society and criminal organisation operating primarily out of Corsica and Marseilles in France. Along with the Italian American and Sicilian mafias, the Unione Corse were the primary organisers of the French Connection, the monopoly that controlled trade in heroin between France and the United States of America and was active from the 1950s to the 1970s.
The symbol of the Unione Corse is the same as the symbol for Corsica generally: the Maure, or Moor's Head, a depiction of a black human head with a rag tied around the forehead, on a white field. In the case of a member of this society, this symbol is often worn as a pendant or a watch fob.
The Unione Corse is alleged to be far more secretive and tightly knit than the Mafia, and law enforcement have found it hard to extract information from members, who follow a code of silence similar to the Sicilian Omertà. In addition, family ties creates bonds between the members. These bonds are not only stronger but allow protection against outsiders trying to either infiltrate or gather information about any of the members.
Typical of the Unione Corse's secrecy would be the case of a man known only as Antoine Rinieri. On 12 June 1962, Rinieri, who identified as an art broker, arrived in the City of New York by air from Paris, France, carrying $247,000 in hard currency, ostensibly to purchase an object of art from an American identified as "Mr Anderson". He arrived at a club to complete the purchase, but the seller was a no-show; Rinieri decided to visit a friend, Gennett, in Asheville, North Carolina, before he left for Europe. For the duration of his visit, the money was stored in a jointly-held safety deposit box at Wachovia Bank in Asheville, per the recommendation of said Gennett. On 18 June, Rinieri left Gennett, flew to Chicago, and there boarded an aircraft which was to fly to Zürich via Montréal. The flight was rerouted to New York, where Rinieri was arrested and questioned.
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