Indeed, Corsicans display an astonishing talent for politics. French presidents across the political spectrum have relied on Corsican advisers and their networks of legitimate experts (scores of senators, ambassadors and generals) and cold-blooded enforcers. Under the last president, Nicolas Sarkozy, the two most visible Corsicans were Xavier Musca, secretary general of the Élysée Palace, and Bernard Squarcini, the chief of France’s domestic and police intelligence service. Nicknamed “the Shark,” Squarcini is an old hand at the twisted fight with his island’s outlaws.

Bozzi’s family laid claims to Jean Jé’s legacy early on, but competition soon proved fierce. Ange-Marie Michelosi, another of Bozzi’s brothers and a close friend of Jean Jé, was assassinated in July 2008. The Bozzis decided to retaliate, targeting the man they believed to be behind Michelosi’s death: Alain Orsoni, then 53, a former nationalist militant who had recently returned from years of voluntary exile in Latin America. Although Orsoni was officially back in Corsica to assume the presidency of Ajaccio’s soccer team, both the police and the Bozzis suspected him of conspiring to take Jean Jé’s spot.

For once, the police intervened before any shots were fired. But after a brief and uneasy truce, hostilities resumed in January 2009, when Thierry Castola, a young associate of the Bozzi clan, was killed in Bastelicaccia, near Ajaccio. Again, the Bozzis sought revenge against Orsoni. And again, the police stopped them in the nick of time. Marie-Jeanne Bozzi was sent to jail but was soon released due to lack of evidence. Her husband, Antoine, spent six months behind bars, while her brother Jean-Toussaint was sentenced to five years.

Despite their inability to establish a link between Orsoni and Ange-Marie’s death, the police took Orsoni into custody. They accused him of having organized Castola’s murder, while Guy Orsoni, Alain’s 26-year-old son, who had fled to Spain, was charged as an accomplice. Alain Orsoni was released after 10 months for lack of proof. Guy, arrested in Madrid in 2011 and extradited to France, remains in prison.

In interviews and in a recent book, Orsoni insisted that he is not a ruthless executioner but merely the victim of a bad reputation. He claims he was forced to flee Corsica in the 1990s to escape disputes between nationalist leaders who wrongly suspected him of embezzling part of the “blood money” disbursed by the French government (bundles of cash spread evenly between rival independence organizations to buy peace prior to ministerial visits). Once in Latin America, Orsoni swears, he made an honest living as a representative of a slot-machine company.

The war for Jean Jé’s loot is not the only one staining Corsica with blood. When Francis Mariani, 59, was blown to smithereens in 2009 by a bomb concealed under his car, he left a considerable fortune built on bank heists and racketeering. As the head of the “Sea Breeze” gang — named after his favorite bar — Mariani was to northern Corsica what Jean Jé was to the south: its undisputed godfather. According to rumor, the gang’s biggest coup was the looting in 1990 of a UBS bank in Geneva: 220 kilos of bank notes amounting to 31 million Swiss francs. Since Mariani’s death, corpses have been piling up in the north just as fast as in the south.

In 2012, it’s the Shepherd Gang that has been getting the biggest headlines. Descending from their mountains and eager to take over Mariani’s former turf, they have the reputation of shooting first and asking question afterwards. This past winter, the police launched raids to clear the gang from nightclubs on mainland France.