French 'hero' at centre of £10m theft surrenders

[depakid]

Source: The Guardian

The security van driver who became an internet hero after vanishing with €11.6m (£10.3m) from outside a bank in Lyon today gave himself up at a police station in Monaco. Tony Musulin, the 39-year-old whose disappearance on 5 November prompted a Europe-wide manhunt, was reportedly unshaven and acting strangely when he handed himself in to investigators.

Police said they did not know why Musulin, a driver for security firm Loomis, had surrendered after 11 days at the top of France's most wanted list. He was handed over to French authorities at the Jardin Exotique, a park marking the border between Monaco and France. He was expected to be returned to Lyon late tonight.

The non-violent heist, which turned its alleged mastermind into a hero, began when Musulin's colleagues left a branch of Banque de France to discover that their coworker had gone, apparently taking 49 sacks of banknotes with him.

<snip>

Over the past week Musulin has been feted as an underdog hero driven to carry out "the perfect crime" by the injustices of society. One company even started selling T-shirts emblazoned with his face. Last night Facebook pages set up in support of Musulin, including "The world is yours: Tony best driver 2009", were reeling from the apparent anticlimax. But most admirers remained loyal. "He's a great man," said one, Caroline Rimakan. "No need to worry, he'll get rich with all the books he'll bring out."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/16/lyon-security-van-driver-surrenders

[paulsby]

1. from a country that hero worships

marykay letourneau and loves jerry lewis well...

[edwardian]

2. The Jerry Lewis claim is

outdated, Francophobe.

[paulsby]

3. whooosh

apparently making fun of america here is perfectly ok

but god forbid somebody gets snarky about france.

give me a break

fwiw, i speak fluent french, i've been to france (twice for surfing), and love france.

but they are easy to make fun of

[Flagg]

5. Mary kay Letourneau ?

The list of anti-French stereotypes is long enough as it is. You don't need to make up new ridiculous ones.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Flagg]

7. No that's bullshit. And I mean utter and complete bullshit.

I am French. And I guarantee that 99% of French people have never even heard of Mary Kay Letourneau, let alone hero worshipped her. What a ludicrous idea. Are you off your meds or something ?

As far as anti-French stereotypes are concerned, I thought I had heard it all but no. Now we apprently hero worship (no less) Mary Kay Letourneau and her boyfriend.
Sure what French teenager didn't grow up with a poster of Mary Kay and Vili in their room.
You're a complete nutjob. :rofl:


""of course france has a history of supporting child rapists.""

Why of course. We love child rapists. Can't get enough of them.
You are a great francophile indeed.

[paulsby]

8. if you want cites, ask for them

the fact that you instantly devolved into ad hominem name calling hysteria shows that you are not interested in facts, and can't admit them to yourself.

sad and childish

hth

[Flagg]

9. Cites that prove "the French" hero worship Letourneau ?

Sure go ahead please.
Keep embarrassing yourself.

But I still don't know how you can worship someone you've never heard of. :rofl:

edit: Oh I see. A few years ago, http://www.ciao.fr/Un_seul_crime_l_amour_Mary_Kay_Letourneau_Vili_Fualaau__125100">Letourneau's book was translated into French.
Is that what you're basing your ridiculous theory of a French worship on ? Or maybe it's the few positive reviews on that website by which you infer that 65 million French people worship Letourneau and her boyfriend ?

It was also released in Germany, Italy, UK and a lot of other places as well as in the US of course.
I bet it sold far more copies in those countries than it did in France.

The Letourneau circus was discussed and talked about in France as it was pretty much anywhere else in the world. There's absolutely nothing that singles out the French when it comes to Letourneau, whom in 2009, I can assure you, nobody gives two shit about.

I'm French, I've lived in France all my life. That stuff is all in your head. Seriously. If you truly believe the things you say, then there' something really wrong with you. And that's not an ad hominen attack, that's a fact from one concerned DUer to another.

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. They've known the score from before the Revolution, and love a scamp

who sticks it to the big guys. Remember Jerome Kerviel and his legion of "petites amies"? Though he was the patsy in reality.