Pierre Picaud was a shoemaker who was happily engaged to a French mademoiselle. Unfortunately, three other men coveted the beautiful, wealthy young lady. They got him charged with espionage for the British. He was convicted of treason and sent to prison. He didn’t even know what had happened for two years. When he discovered the truth, he vowed revenge. He befriended an Italian priest in the next cell. He dug out a passage so they could visit. Before the priest died, he told Pierre about a stash of treasure buried near Milan. Apparently, the priest was not the poor country type. When he got out of prison after seven years, Pierre got the treasure and started his plot. He found out who the three culprits were from a friend named Allut who had known about the conspiracy and kept quiet about it. He tricked him into confessing by pretending to be dying and offering a large reward for giving him the names of the conspirators. First, he tracked down Chaubert and killed him. Loupian was next and he was the one who married the fiancé, so he deserved special treatment. He tricked their daughter into marrying a criminal and then had the husband arrested. The daughter committed suicide. Then Picaud burned down Loupian’s restaurant. He moved on to Solari, who he poisoned. It was then back to Loupian. He got his son arrested for stealing jewelry. He then stabbed Loupian. The story does not have a happy ending as Allut kidnapped him and mortally wounded him in the process. When the police arrived, Pierre confessed before he died. Many years later, the novelist Alexander Dumas was perusing a copy of the 1838 publication Memoirs from the Archives of Paris Police. It was a collection of true crime stories. One of the stories was that of Pierre Picaud. The book went on to be one of the most popular books of the 19th Century and has been made into numerous movies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Picaud
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64861/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-count-monte-cristo
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