Dangerous French Gangster Uses Dynamite to Escape Prison

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A notorious French gangster is back on the loose after a brazen, movie-like escape from a north France prison using explosives and hostages.

“It happened very quickly, it was clearly very well organized, we are still busy putting the facts together,” an official told Metro.

Twenty-six different European nations are on high alert and have authority to arrest Redoine Faid, a 40-year-old who had been serving time at the Sequedin prison in Lille for several armed robberies.

Called a “particularly dangerous prisoner” by a state prosecutor, Faid added another incredible stunt Saturday to his long list of crimes.

He held five people, including four guards, hostage as he blasted through five different prison doors, setting fire to his getaway car and vanishing without a trace in another vehicle south of Lille.

“I thought my last hour had come,” said Rose Lafont, who told Metro she was visiting her son at the prison during the escape. “Suddenly, everything started blowing up. The walls started shaking, as did the windows and the doors. I was really scared.”

Apparently Mr. Faid has been watching too many Robert De Niro flicks…

Faid fashions himself to be the real-life character Robert De Niro portrayed in “Heat,” donning a hockey mask to carry out an armored truck robbery during one heist. He wrote in an autobiography that the De Niro role and the movie “Scarface” offered inspiration for his crime spree.

Like De Niro, Faid’s luck ran out after he was captured in 1998 following three years on the run for a series of armed robberies. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, served 10 and was released on parole. But his alleged involvement in a 2010 robbery that left a young policewoman dead sent him back to jail to serve out his sentence.

“He is remarkably intelligent, and he is using his intellect to serve his ambitions,” his attorney, Jean-Louis Pelletier told BFMTV. “(And Faid) cannot stand being imprisoned anymore.”

Says a lot about this prison that this guy was even able to get his hands on these explosives, ESPECIALLY considering his criminal past. The should have had him in one of those Hannibal Lecter straitjackets.

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