David King - Death in the City of Light - The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

24 “without raising the voice” Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres , 13–14, 244.

25 The massive, unruly Janet Flanner, Paris Was Yesterday 1925–1939 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972), 216–217; Life , July 10, 1939. George Sand’s granddaughter testified at the trial, for the defense.

26 “about forty years old” … “considered dangerous” Arrest notice, March 13, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

27 “The steps of an investigation” … “an idiot” Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres , 8.

28 about nine thirty Alice Denis, Audition , March 12, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

29 “Yesterday evening” Raymonde Denis, Audition , March 12, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

30 a veritable prewar café Massu, L’enquête Petiot , 226.

31 504 vials Réquisitoire définitif , December 31, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII, and for the conclusion of a large amount far surpassing the average, AN 334 AP 65, 3361.

32 “diabolical and grimacing” Report, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

CHAPTER 4. Two WITNESSES

1 no fewer than ninety-five AN 334, AP 65, 3313 and 3422. This part of Petiot’s practice was already being reported by Le Matin , March 14, 1944.

2 Massu now learned Georges Massu, L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 45–46.

3 In early 1942 André Larue discusses some of the drug seizures at this time in Les Flics (Paris: Fayard, 1969), 213, and another view is in Gérard de Villiers, La brigade mondaine: Dossiers secrets révélés par Maurice Vincent, Officier de police principal honoraire (Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1972).

4 Jean-Marc Van Bever APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I, particularly folder 13.

5 the most exposed See, for instance, Lucien Zimmer, Un Septennat policier: Dessous et secrets de la police républicaine (Paris: Fayard, 1967), 143–154.

6 Petiot had written AN 334 AP 65, 4168.

7 “go out and steal” … “only known cure” John V. Grombach, The Great Liquidator (New York: Zebra Books, 1980), 141.

8 He had, however, become AN 334 AP 65, 4171.

9 “Perhaps Jeannette had” Thomas Maeder, The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 23.

10 In November 1941 AN 334 AP 65, 4182–4183.

11 “It is no longer necessary” … a fine Grombach, The Great Liquidator , 144.

12 “14 vials of heroin” AN 334, AP 65, 4193–4194.

13 It was hardly his fault AN 334, AP 65, 4192–4193. Both Baudet and Desrouet would later blame each other.

14 According to the police report Fernand Lavie, Audition , March 14, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

15 Petiot offered to make Ibid.

16 “Do not trouble yourself” Claude Bertin, Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot , vol. 10 of Les grands procès de l’histoire de France (Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 165.

17 Khaït also recalled AN 334, AP 65, 4201.

18 The maid, who received the letters AN 334, AP 65, 4206.

19 “You wretch!” Le Matin , March 14, 1944, and Petiot’s reply, Massu, L’enquête Petiot , 51.

20 “Rest assured” Marcel Jullian, Le Mystère Petiot (Paris: Edition No. 1, 1980), 142; Georges Massu reports the incident with slightly different words in L’enquête Petiot , 52.

CHAPTER 5. “100,000 AUTOPSIES”

1 “The New Landru” Le Petit Parisien , March 13, 1944.

2 “burned alive” L’Oeuvre , March 13, 1944.

3 “demonic, erotic” Le Matin , March 14, 1944.

4 double life The question of a double life was also posed in French papers, for instance Le Petit Parisien , March 16, 1944.

5 “shady ladies” … “twisted corpse” Associated Press, May 28, 1944.

6 spotlights The United Press, in turn, broadcast the report in various newspapers, for instance, Milwaukee Journal , March 15, 1944. The claim had already been reported by Le Matin , March 14, 1944.

7 “You have often heard” Georges Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres. Souvenirs du Commissaire Massu (Paris: La Tour Pointue, undated/1951), 242–243.

8 “catastrophic” Ibid.

9 many bodies, but no signs Jacques Perry and Jane Chabert, L’affaire Petiot (Paris: Gallimard, 1957), 20.

10 “I should have been” Albert Massui, Le cas du Dr Petiot (Brussels: E.D.C., 1944), 35.

11 “A shiver ran down” … “His black eyes” Associated Press, May 4, 1944.

12 “horrible and icy” Georges Massu, L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 184.

13 having trouble sleeping Massu, L’enquête Petiot , 83.

14 “Boss” … “It’s almost certain” Massu, L’enquête Petiot , 86. Rumors of Petiot’s drug habit were soon circulated further, Le Petit Parisien , March 15, 1944.

15 “did not want to provide” Report, March 14, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

16 “very bad reputation” Ibid.

17 On March 11, 1930 Report, March 14, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

18 “Furiously, he pressed” Seguin’s testimony appears in Jean-François Dominique, L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats (Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 51. Petiot’s fingerprints are found in folder 42 of APP, Série J, carton n° I.

19 Speculations rose Paris-Soir , March 20, 1943, and more fully in Paris-Soir , March 21, 1943.

20 “by accident” Jean-Marc Varaut, L’abominable Dr. Petiot (Paris: Balland 1974), 51.

21 “anthropometric” techniques Marcel Le Clère, Histoire de la police (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1947), 105–107; Colin Beavan, Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science (New York: Hyperion 2001), 76–93.

22 five million measurements Claude Cancès with Dominique Cellura, Alissia Grifat, and Franck Hériot, Histoire du 36, quai des Orfèvres (Paris: 2010), 53.

23 “enthusiastic admiration” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Naval Treaty,” in Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009), 153.

24 “A right foot” Dr. Paul’s testimony in F.A. Mackenzie, Landru (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1928), 201. This book was reissued in 1995 in The Notable Trials Library of Gryphon Editions with an introduction by Alan M. Dershowitz.

25 “the doctor of” … “thigh bones, craniums, shinbones” Massu, L’enquête Petiot , 78–79.

26 Massu and Paul Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres , 212; Massu, L’enquête Petiot , 80.

27 In most cases Premier Rapport préliminaire et succinct , APP, carton n° VII.