François Santoni

Santoni became involved in politics at a young age, organizing nationalist rallies at his local high school in Ajaccio. In 1978, while attending university in Aix-en-Provence, Santoni joined a group of other nationalist Corsican diaspora students to form an outreach for the FLNC on the French mainland. Soon after, Santoni's military prowess was recognized by leaders in Corsica, and Santoni was promoted to command the Gravona division of the FLNC.^[3] During the failed 1988 peace process, Santoni became an outspoken critic of the ongoing government negotiations, and he gained even more power by commanding a dissident organization and taking over Alain Orsoni's A Cuncolta Naziunalista political party, transforming it into the radical political wing of the newly formed FLNC-Canal Historique (Canale Storicu, FLNC-CS), which he became the co-leader of, leading alongside Charles Pieri, a political kingpin from the Bastia area. Santoni was in charge of the Corse-du-Sud divisions, and Pieri was in charge of the Haute-Corse divisions, effectively splitting the organization around department lines. This was mirrored in the political party, splitting the position of governor-general along department lines with Santoni in charge of the south. Santoni oversaw crucial periods of the FLNC-CS, acting as negotiator with interior minister Jean-Louis Debré during the 1996 peace attempt, and heading foreign connections within the group. In 1998, after a reorganisation of the group, Santoni began to grow dissatisfied with the direction of the organisation, taking particular issue with the rumour of mafia funding towards Charles Pieri. Santoni resigned from the group in September 1998, and garnered his own political following in the political party Presenza Naziunale. In 1999, Presenza's armed wing, the notorious Armata Corsa group was founded by Santoni. Armata Corsa would face a war against an alliance of military groups on the island, spearheaded by the FLNC-CS (now under the sole control of Pieri). On 17 August 2001, Santoni was assassinated at a wedding in his hometown of Monacia-d'Aullène by members of the Brise de Mer mafia, assisted by soldiers from the FLNC-UC, a group formed by a union of the FLNC-CS and other military groups in late 1999.^[1][3]