Will Tony Vairelles go back to prison? Three years firm were required Thursday in Nancy against the former footballer, tried on appeal since Tuesday with three of his brothers for violence at the exit of a nightclub in 2011. The same sentence as that pronounced against him in first instance.
For all the protagonists, the requisitions are similar. From one to three years in prison for the Vairelles brothers, and three to four months of suspended imprisonment for the three security guards of the nightclub. The decision was reserved for July 6.
Without omitting the “physical and professional after-effects” of each other, the prosecution has endeavored to underline “the certainties of the file”. Either “three people injured by bullet in a very short period of time”: Carlos Di Napoli was shot in the stomach, his brother Baldassare two bullets in the hands, and their colleague Peter Gerdum was injured in the thigh. “We know that it was during the clash between the Vairelles brothers and the Di Napoli brothers that the bullets were fired, there is no doubt,” said Bernard Marchal.
“Clan behavior”
The Vairelles clan puts forward the thesis “of a mysterious shooter, who would have defended them without anyone seeing him? “, asks Mr. Marchal again. “No weapon was found at the scene. However, we know, due to the caliber of the bullets found, that at least two shooters acted, ”he adds.
Highlighting the personalities of the various protagonists, “brawlers” for the Vairelles “according to the comments reported by certain members of their family”, and facing “security agents, who in fifteen years of work have never had a single condemnation”, the prosecution concludes that the first have for “mode of operation a clannish behavior”, which led them to do “private justice” on the security guards.
Me Virginie Barbosa, lawyer for the Vairelles, pleaded for the release of the four brothers, stressing that her clients, described as “brawlers” by some, nevertheless have “no record”, speeding and a neighborhood quarrel all at most. “Psychologists say they don’t have impulsiveness or dangerousness,” she adds. “It’s not a ready-made clan, no, it’s hard-working, united people, who have a taste for sport and who respect the rules. »
Catastrophic investigation
“In this case, the only point where the security guards and our clients agree is on the presence of a fifth man”, recalled Me Frédéric Berna, who also defends Vairelles with Me Barbosa. “But we still don’t know who it is, but I don’t have this claim and it’s not my role,” he concluded, recalling in passing the catastrophic nature of an abnormally long investigation.
Speaking last, Tony Vairelles wanted to exclude his father from any involvement in this disastrous evening, some having suggested that he could be the mysterious fifth man: “It’s dirtying his memory to insinuate that, it was a respected and respectable person”. Me Mathieu Schwartz, lawyer for the bouncers, had also pleaded for release for his three clients.
Tony Vairelles and his brothers were accused of having opened fire and injured the three guards in the parking lot of a nightclub in Essey-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) in October 2011. The former player has always proclaimed his innocence. Imprisoned for five months at the start of the investigation, he was sentenced at first instance, in May 2022, for “violence in a meeting, with premeditation and with a weapon” to five years in prison, two of which were suspended.
In 2022, Tony Vairelles returned to this conviction in an autobiographical book, “Balls in the center”. The footballer was selected eight times for the French team between 1998 and 2000. Famous for his “mule cup”, he had passed through Lens, Lyon, Bordeaux, Bastia and Gueugnon.