François "Cecco" Tomasini was born in 1880 in the rural commune of Venzolasca, located in Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. He was one of several brothers raised in a region known for its strong family ties and often fiery tempers. From an early age, Tomasini gained a reputation in his community for being unruly, aggressive, and frequently in trouble with the law.

By the time he reached his late twenties, Tomasini had already accumulated ten convictions for crimes ranging from theft to assault and battery. Despite his troubled record, he was married and made a modest living working as a day laborer in the nearby village of Campile.

Following his release from prison, François Tomasini returned to Haute-Corse in open defiance of the legal restrictions placed on him. On November 11, 1913, he traveled with several friends to the village of Barchatta in the commune of Volpajola. There, they gathered at a local bar operated by a woman named Madame Ciavaldini. The group was drinking heavily, and Tomasini appeared to be in a volatile mood.

At some point during the evening, Tomasini asked an elderly patron named Raffaeli to lend him an accordion so the group could sing and entertain themselves. Raffaeli, a recent widower, declined the request. His refusal was supported by his friend Roch Sarti, a 79-year-old farmer known in the area. This angered Tomasini. In a sudden outburst, he slapped Sarti across the face. Seconds later, he pulled out a revolver and shot Sarti twice — once in the chest and once in the arm. Sarti died instantly in the bar.

Instead of fleeing immediately, Tomasini continued his rampage. He made his way to Sarti’s nearby home in the hamlet of Canaja, apparently seeking out more victims. Along the road, he encountered Sarti’s daughter and struck her in the face, though he let her live. He arrived at the house and called out for Félix Gabrielli, a 27-year-old servant who had known Tomasini for years. When Gabrielli came out to investigate, Tomasini held him at gunpoint and forced him to walk to a nearby roadside area. There, he executed him with three shots: two to the head and one to the stomach.

After the murders, Tomasini went into hiding, successfully eluding capture for two months. On January 11, 1914, he was finally located in the village of Luciana, where he had been hiding with the help of a local resident named Ange-Paul Giorgetti. Authorities arrested both men, and Tomasini was transported to Bastia to stand trial.

During the trial, Tomasini claimed that he had acted in self-defense, alleging that Roch Sarti had attacked him first. However, several eyewitnesses contradicted his version of events. Some testified that Tomasini returned to the crime scene after the killings and attempted to stage the scene by placing his revolver in Sarti’s hands to create the illusion of an armed confrontation. This effort to manipulate the narrative backfired in court, especially after it was revealed that his brother, Joseph Tomasini, had attempted to intimidate witnesses into silence. Joseph was later arrested for witness tampering.

On July 26, 1914, François Tomasini was found guilty of the murders of Sarti and Gabrielli. Despite his ongoing claims of innocence and self-defense, the jury was not convinced. He was sentenced to death by guillotine. On December 23, 1914, in the early morning hours, Tomasini was taken to the prison in Bastia, where he was publicly executed.