Jacques Mesrine: the man with 1,000 faces

Vincent Cassel as Mesrine in L'Instinct de Mort. Almost 30 years after he was killed by French police in a spectacular shootout, Jacques Mesrine's infamy lives on Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

The different faces of Mesrine as he was hunted by the police throughout France Photograph: Corbis

More of Mesrine's disguises Photograph: Getty

A disguised Mesrine holding a machine gun while on the run Photograph: Corbis

Vincent Cassel as Mesrine in L'instinct de Mort, directed by Jean-François Richet Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Cassel (c) and Gérard Depardieu (l) in L'instinct de Mort Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Cassel (r) and Cécile de France (l) in L'instinct de Mort Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Cassel (l), François Richet (c) and De France (l) on the set of L'instinct de Mort Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Cassel (r) as Mesrine in L'ennemi public No. 1, the second part of the Mesrine biopic Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Mesrine in 1978 in a high-security prison at La Sante, Paris - from which he subsequently managed to escape Photograph: Tony Comiti/Corbis

The body of 26-year-old Carman Rives lies in the street in Paris after he was fatally shot during his escape from La Sante prison, May 8 1978. Mesrine and his accomplice Francois Besse made a successful getaway Photograph: AFP

Cassel as Mesrine in L'ennemi public No 1 Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Photos of tabloid magazine reporter Jacques Tillier, taken by Mesrine after his abduction and sent to Le Matin newspaper on September 19 1979. After taking his clothes off, Mesrine made him crawl in a cave in the Haalatte woods and then shot at him, leaving him seriously wounded Photograph: AFP

An undated portrait of Mesrine Photograph: AFP

Ludivine Sagnier and Cassel in L'ennemi public No 1 Photograph: Sipa/Rex Features

The scene from L'ennemi public No 1 where Mesrine is killed by police Photograph: Pathe Distribution/PR

Mesrine was killed after armed police shot 19 rounds through the windshield of his car in Porte de Clignancourt, Paris 1979 Photograph: Rex Features

Mesrine was shot down in Paris in the Clignancourt area on November 2 1979 by the Banditry Repression Brigade, an elite police unit from the French Ministry of the Interior Photograph: James Andanson/Corbis

Mesrine's daughter gestures to the press, November 9 1979, as she leaves the morgue in the van that carried the corpse of her father to his funeral Photograph: Joel Robine/AFP

The funeral of Mesrine at Clichy-La-Garenne, France Photograph: Rex features