The Great Riviera Bank Robbery

[Ridder in de Orde van Cicero]

First of all I apologize that I adress you in English, but my French is even more bad than my English.

A long time ago I saw a film on TV, that is now extremely difficult to find and is not commercially available. This film is named The Great Riviera Bank Robbery. It is a film from 1979 and it deals with a Bank Robbery in 1976 in Nice. About 15 million dollars (or the equivalent in French money) were robbed by a extreme rightwing group.

All in all there is very little to find about this film as well as about the real event itself. Alberto Spaggia was appearently a participant of the robbery and also wrote a book about it. Part of the music in the film is sayed to be inspired by the Horst Wessel Song.

Now, can anyone tell me more about the robbery, the group that organised it, the people involved and their ideology ? Any more books, websites about the subject ?

[WFHermans]

The Wikipedophiles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Riviera_Bank_Robbery) tell this:

Two movies were made at the same time that both dealt with the same subject -- a true life event of ex-firebrands using the sewers to rob a bank.

The French version, made by Jose Giovanni, {"Les Egouts du Paradis" = Sewers of Paradise) kept the hero's real name but is rather listless. The "hero" becomes a nice guy, some kind of Arsene Lupin, who visits the old ladies in the hospital.

The English version, which features a better lead (Ian McShane billed as "Brain") and a more honest approach. Far from being heroes, like in Giovanni's flick, the characters are fascists (anti communist) and their paramilitary activities are not passed over in silence -- in the French attempt, all they show is weapons in the thieves' den in the country.
I will have to see them both. :)

If the Wikipedophiles praiise the english version, it means the french version is more truthful.

[WFHermans]

The french movie is on Emule, with a description here (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0080186/). Spiaggiari had quite an interesting life. He was caught but made a daring escape, and the french police have never been able to catch him. He was sentenced to life in prison.

[WFHermans]

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2594/spaggiarifh0.jpg

Albert Spaggiari. He damaged a car during his escape whem he jumped out of a window on it. The owner received a cheque to pay for the damages. :D

[Daniel Shays]

Is this the movie where they dig a tunnel under a bank vault and have a picnic inside once inside it? I saw some French film like that a few years ago.

[Ridder in de Orde van Cicero]

Is this the movie where they dig a tunnel under a bank vault and have a picnic inside once inside it? I saw some French film like that a few years ago.

They not really dig a tunnel, but there was already a sewerage under the bank where the robbers go inside.

Here (http://www.spanningzoeker.nl/follett/1983herenvd16ejuli.htm) I found a Dutch book about the robbery, with very much secret information about the robbers and their motiviation.

The CIA always told that Albert Spaggiari was an DINA-agent. That stands for Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, the intelligence agency of Augusto Pinochet. Is that true or what ?