Rédoine Faïd

Rédoine Faïd ([ʁe.dwan fa.id]; born 10 May 1972) is a French writer, and serial jailbreaker, considered France's most wanted criminal in 2013.

Childhood

Faïd was born in Creil to Algerian immigrant parents who immigrated in 1969. He is the penultimate child of the family, and has 8 brothers and 3 sisters. Faïd's father was a worker in a chemical factory in Villers-Saint-Paul. In 1988, his father deserted his family and went back to Algeria to start a new life. In 1991, Faïd's mother died of leukemia. Faïd was 19 and already a delinquent when he joined forces with his brothers to commit crimes.

Biography

In the mid-1990s, Faïd and Jean-Claude Bisel had led a criminal gang that was responsible for armed robbery, including robbing an armored truck containing cash, jewel theft, and extortion in the Paris area. In 1997, seven of eight accused were tried for said charges (the eighth having fled to Algeria). Faïd spent three years on the run in Switzerland and Palestine before being arrested in 1998. In his autobiography, he claimed to have disguised himself as an Orthodox Jew and learned Hebrew while in Israel, and that he was taught firearms skills by an Israeli soldier. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released on parole after serving ten years.