FRANCE: Poison Pianist

For the past eight years, the citizens who live in Paris' Rue La Fayette—a busy, noisy street near the Gare du Nord —have had their blood pressure driven high by a series of poison-pen letters. The writer demanded money for keeping secrets most of the neighbors did not have. The charges, all phony, said such things as, "Your husband belonged to the Gestapo. If you don't bring me 50,000 francs I will denounce him to the police," or "I know who strangled your sweetheart. Send me 50,000 francs and I won't say anything." The letter...

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