A gripping real-life story of the Robin Hood of gamblers

APOSTMAN on his daily rounds in the Paris suburb of SaintCloud made a shocking discovery on the morning of October 17, 1975. The lifeless body of Monsieur Patrice des Moutis lay in his back garden beside a shotgun, barefoot and clad only in his dressing gown and pyjamas.

It looked, to all intents and purposes, like a suicide, but the colourful history of the deceased resulted in various alternative theories being espoused in the days and weeks that followed.

And the full tale is told in riveting fashion by Jamie Reid in ‘Monsieur X - The Incredible Story of the Most Audacious Gambler in History’.

To outsiders looking in, Patrice des Moutis had it all. Hailing from aristocratic stock, he was extremely well-educated, ran a respectable insurance business with his brother, was happily married with children, and was a mover and shaker in French high society.

However, the compulsive gambler also operated as an illegal bookie, and this resulted in a lifetime ban from the racecourses of France in 1953.

That didn’t deter des Moutis from turning his obsession into considerable gain. From the late 1950s right through to the early 1970s, he made it his life’s ambition to beat the staterun betting system.

His success made him a Robin Hood-like figure who was revered by the average punter and featured extensively on the front pages of the national newspapers, referred to only as

‘Monsieur X’ until his name became common knowledge after the authorities issued court proceedings.

The story of his daring deeds may have sport as its theme, but it reads like a thriller as an array of shady characters take the stage.

Luck had nothing to do with the fortunes amassed by des Moutis over the years. For starters, he was a gifted mathematician, and this meant that the various permutations and combinations involved in covering all possible outcomes when betting came as second nature to him.

This was combined with a keen knowledge and passion for the horse-racing world, and an array of contacts within the ranks of jockeys and trainers that left him in a position to make informed judgements.

He was generous with his predictions and enlisted his friends, not only to share in his wealth but also to help him overcome the obstacles placed in his path by the authorities.

The Government-controlled betting system was viewed with derision by the general public, and the man known as ‘Monsieur X’ was quickly hailed as a hero when it became apparent that his massive wins made him a constant thorn in their side.

It developed into a cat and mouse game, but when the authorities criminalised his activities, the story took a twist that ultimately ended in tragedy.

With dodgy underworld figures starting to figure more prominently in French horse racing circles, a major race-fixing scandal unfolded in the early 1970s that led to the arrests of multiple jockeys and trainers.

Officials who had been on the case of des Moutis since his emergence in the late 1950s were determined to single him out as the mastermind, but that was never proven and a more likely candidate from the criminal world is put forward as an alternative in the book.

‘Monsieur X’ did serve 142 days in prison, though, and he was never the same afterwards. It led to that violent death in his garden in 1975, but was it self-inflicted?

Read this gripping real-life story and form your own opinions! ALAN AHERNE

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