François Spirito

François "Lydro" Spirito (23 January 1900 – 9 October 1967) was a French gangster. He was one of the leaders of the French Connection, and inspired the film Borsalino, which featured Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Early life Spirito was born in Marseille on 23 January 1900 to Dominick Spirito and Rosina De Nola. Sabiani came to their aid.

World War II During World War II, Carbone and Spirito joined the Carlingue which collaborated with the Germans in France; in return, the local civilian authorities in Marseilles were expected to ignore their criminal activities. They also profiteered from black marketeering, supplying German soldiers with hard to obtain goods.

Carbone died on 16 December 1943 in a train crash caused by the resistance sabotaging the train. Spirito carried on the clan's affairs. After the French Liberation, Spirito fled to Spain and thence to South America.

Post-WWII In 1946, Spirito moved to Montreal. From here he organised smuggling heroin shipments into New York. The distribution in New York was handled by the Lucchese Crime Family.

Spirito was arrested in New York on 23 August 1951, on suspicion of drug smuggling. Whilst he was in custody, on 24 October, the French Court of Appeal found him guilty, in his absence, of theft and sentenced him to 20 years of hard labour. The French authorities requested his extradition on November 15 of that year. In February 1952, a federal court in New York sentenced Spirito to two years in prison on drug trafficking charges. At the end of 1953, soon after his release from prison, Spirito was deported from the U.S. to France for entering the country illegally.

Spirito died on 9 October 1967 in Toulon, France.