Bio

Ali Ben Yanes was born in Tunisia. Details about his early life and personal background are not well-documented. There is little information about his childhood or family life.

As a young man, he moved to France, where he worked as an agricultural laborer. He had a cousin named Hocine, and together they found various jobs in the Alpes-Maritimes department. Their work mostly involved agriculture, a common occupation in that region.

Ben Yanes lived in a time when economic struggles often affected many people. This led him and his cousin to commit crimes, which changed their lives forever. On September 28, 1971, Ali and Hocine broke into a family's home in Gattières, looking for money.

Before the incident that would lead to their capture, Ali and Hocine had the kind of life that could have been ordinary if they had made different choices. Ali's actions that night ultimately defined his legacy and his story ended on May 12, 1973, when he was executed in Marseille. His life is remembered mostly for the violent crime he committed.

Murder Story

On the evening of September 28, 1971, in Gattières, France, Ali Ben Yanes and his cousin Hocine broke into the home of the Marra family. At that time, Cortena Marra was alone in the kitchen with her 7-year-old daughter, Danièle. Cortena was eight months pregnant, and her husband, Francisco, was out at a nearby flower market.

Ali, armed with a knife, demanded money from Cortena. When she refused to give any, he stabbed her in the arm. The two men then took Cortena and Danièle upstairs to the parents' bedroom. There, Cortena eventually handed over 2,000 francs, but Ali was not satisfied and wanted more. In a fit of rage, he stabbed Cortena in the head, rendering her unconscious. Danièle, frightened by the violent scene, tried to escape, but Ali grabbed her and slit her throat. Afterward, he stabbed Cortena a third time in the stomach.

Following the attack, Cortena managed to regain consciousness and sought help from a neighboring farm. Francisco returned home only to find the horrific scene, including the lifeless body of his daughter. Both Cortena and her unborn child survived the attack.

The authorities quickly began the search for Ali and Hocine Ben Yanes. They were apprehended not long after the crime. Their trial commenced nearly a year later, on September 29, 1972. During the trial, the prosecutor requested the death penalty for Ali, whom they considered the main perpetrator, while suggesting life imprisonment for Hocine, who had some mitigating circumstances. The jury ruled in favor of the prosecutor's recommendations.

On May 12, 1973, Ali was executed by guillotine in Marseille. This marked the last execution in France during the presidency of Georges Pompidou. After the execution, Ali's body was buried in a secret location at the Saint Pierre cemetery.