Nicknamed “Papillon” due to the tattoo of a butterfly (“Papillon” in French) on his chest, Charrière

Charrière

The version of his life presented in his semi-biographical novel, Papillon, claimed that Charrière was convicted on 26 October 1931 of the murder of a pimp named Roland Le Petit, a charge that he strenuously denied. He was sentenced to life in prison and ten years of hard labour.

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started out as a small-time gangster in the French capital. His jobs were to steal and crack safes (some accounts also said that he was a pimp), two abilities that put him in the good graces of local mobsters.

Why is the book called Papillon?

(Papillon #1)

Henri Charrière, called "Papillon," for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, was convicted in Paris in 1931 of a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he became obsessed with one goal: escape.

What was Papillons real name?

Henri Charrière, byname Papillon, (born 1906, Ardèche, France—died July 29, 1973, Madrid, Spain), French criminal and prisoner in French Guiana who described a lively career of imprisonments, adventures, and escapes in an autobiography, Papillon (1969).