He spent 13 years behind bars after smuggling drugs for Mediterranean gangs. What made him change his ways? With the fish he made bouillabaisse, the famous Marseillais soup. One of his fellow inmates — also from Marseille — said it was the best he had ever tasted.
After a harsh winter, spring was stirring in the Gard. Happy to be together again, the trio stopped at a bar in the town of Remoulins. Dusk fell. Messing about in the car, one of the passengers accidentally thumped the steering wheel. The car spun off the road and hit a plane tree, then an oncoming car smashed into its side.
Karine died. The police found him to be just over the alcohol limit. He did, but only after six months of rehab. Losing his driving licence made it almost impossible to work. He got into fights, and channelled some of his energy into boxing. At first he worked as a volunteer firefighter. Then he passed his exams and joined the Paris fire service, sloping off at night to take part in clandestine bare-knuckle fights.
After a team he was part of rescued seven people from a blaze at the now defunct Laennec hospital in , he was awarded a medal for bravery. Soon he had a second, the National Defence Medal. The five years he spent in the capital were the best he had known. Nobody took into account his track record as a firefighter or his medals, he says. Nobody acknowledged that what had happened had been an accident, or that he was grieving, and there was no consideration of his plea to keep his licence so he could work.
The first job he got after the accident was as a bouncer in a club. He turned out to be good at judging which bars and arcades would bring in the most cash if he placed machines in them.
