'Jackpot!' How French police freed a cryptocurrency hostage whose finger was severed for ransom

Fearful that the kidnappers might sever another finger from their hostage or worse, the French police commander ordered his officers — with a radioed “Go” command — to raid the house where he suspected that the father of a wealthy cryptocurrency entrepreneur was being held. Fabrice Gardon, director of Paris' judicial police, then waited anxiously in his unit's headquarters in the north of the French capital for the code word they use to signal that a hostage has been freed. With seven suspects in custody, the police commander detailed in radio interviews Monday 58 hours of drama, mutilation and finally relief that marked the latest kidnapping in France of people working in the cryptocurrency business.