Some news stories seem like they were ripped from the movies, but this one really takes the cake.

Three months ago, 46-year-old Redoine Faid escaped from the Sud-Francilien prison outside Paris in one of the most daring and exquisitely executed prison breaks France has ever seen. Faid’s three accomplices stole a helicopter, held the pilot at gunpoint, and forced him to fly to the prison, landing in the courtyard where Faid managed to hop onboard. In a previous prison break in 2013, Faid managed to get out in less than half an hour, blowing up doors with dynamite and escaping. According to the man himself, this thirst for the dramatic comes from an obsession with mobster films like the 1995 De Niro/Pacino film, “Heat,” which Faid apparently watched compulsively in an attempt to learn how to mimic the wild stunts in real life.

Faid was captured this week in the town of Creil. The escape artist was on a 25-year sentence after executing a robbery where a police officer was killed, and is likely to get a lot more slapped on top of that for pulling this stunt. (But hey, if you’re gonna go out, you might as well do it with panache.)