Pierre Loutrel

Pierre Loutrel (5 March 1916, Château-du-Loir, Sarthe – 11 November 1946), better known by his nickname of "Pierrot le fou" (Crazy Pete) was France's first "public enemy number one" and one of the leaders of the Gang des tractions.

[1] Born into a peasant family, he engaged in petty theft before profiting from the German occupation of France and using it to develop his criminal activities.

Sensing that the tide was changing, "Pierrot le fou" thus decided to join the French Resistance, getting them into talks with him by gunning down a German officer on the terrace of a café in Toulouse.

It ended up separating and Pierrot le fou, considered to be dangerous and uncontrollable, once again found himself isolated and reduced to petty burglaries.

On 6 November 1946, Pierrot, who was drunk, accidentally shot himself in the bladder during a robbery of a Parisian jewellery store on avenue Kléber, after having killed its Armenian owner.