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A particularly interesting lead was provided by a letter that Markovic. wrote, shortly before his death, to his brother Aleksander, a Trieste businessman and once captain of the yacht of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. In that letter Stevan told his brother that "if anything happens to me, address yourself to Alain Delon, to his wife and to his associate Francois Marcantoni, a real gangster . . ." Police seized Marcantoni, once linked with the Corsican Mafia, and began putting him through a long series of interrogations that are still going on. So far, however, he has not incriminated himself. "They want me to wear the hat," he said, "but I can assure them that it won't fit." Other underworld witnesses have been hauled in for questioning as well, including such Parisian types as "Jeannot le Corse," "Bronco," "Swami" and "Francois le Beige," but their testimony has simply confused matters. So far, efforts to coax Nathalie to testify have been largely fruitless, although she did submit to one bout of questioning. Now she pleads that she is too busy in Rome to break away. Delon, more cooperative, has chalked up four appearances so far. Each time he makes a point of declaring his innocence to reporters, accusing "rumormongers and nymphomaniacs" of plotting against him.
Nubile Young Girls. Titillating though the published details were, le tout Paris concentrated its gossip on the high personages reportedly involved. Almost everyone seemed to know the name of the former Cabinet minister's wife, for instance. It all stimulated memories of the "Ballets Roses" organized during the late '50s by Andre Le Troquer, at the time President of the National Assembly. Le Troquer made a habit of wrapping nubile young girls in antique carpets and delivering the bundles to aging revelers. But that was a long time past. The choicest scandal is always the present scandal, and in Parisian salons there was a delicious feeling that the "serious mutual insult" cited in the Delon divorce might well spread through several more households—and government bureaus—before the end of "L'affaire Markovic."