Mickaël Ettori, Key Figure in Corsican Petit Bar Gang, Arrested After Five Years on the Run

Mickaël Ettori, a prominent member of the Corsican organized crime gang Petit Bar, was arrested on December 13, 2025, in Olmeto-Plage, Corsica, by the GIGN after evading authorities for five years. He had been on the run since September 28, 2020, when he escaped arrest in Ajaccio alongside other gang members.

Ettori was recently sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the 2012 assassination of lawyer Antoine Sollacaro and the attempted murder of Charles Cervoni, both connected to nationalist circles. The sentencing also included a 12-year prison term delivered on May 28, 2025, for financial crimes linked to the Petit Bar gang, alongside a €1.5 million fine and a ban on managing companies.

The arrest was part of an operation coordinated under a judicial investigation led by the specialized interregional judicial authority (JIRS) in Marseille, with Ajaccio's prosecutor Nicolas Septe confirming the capture was achieved without resistance. Ettori is regarded as a close lieutenant of Jacques Santoni, suspected leader of the Petit Bar.

In the related high-profile case, André Bacchiolelli, the gunman in Sollacaro's murder, received a 30-year sentence, aided by the testimony of a repentant criminal, Patrick Giovannoni, who received a suspended five-year sentence related to the attempted murder of Cervoni.

This arrest marks a significant development in the French judicial system's efforts to dismantle the Corsican organized crime network known as the Petit Bar gang, which has long been linked to violent crimes and complex money laundering schemes.