1988 suicides

Pierre Charles Albert Marie Langlais (2 December 1909 – 17 July 1986) was a senior French military officer who fought in World War II and the First Indochina War. Hailing from the Brittany region of France, Langlais was known as a tough and uncompromising character with an "unflagging devotion to his men."After serving the majority of his career in France's North African colonies before the Second World War, Langlais became best known for his role in the Indochina War where he commanded paratroop forces and became the de facto commander of the French garrison in the midst of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

John Massis (4 June 1940 – 12 July 1988) was a Flemish strongman and teeth-acrobat. His real name was Wilfried Morbée.
Massis specialized in bending iron with his teeth. He also performed stunts where he lifted cars, pulled trains and stopped motorbikes and even helicopters and hot air balloons with his teeth. This resulted in several entries in the Guinness World Records book. He even stopped 4 small sport planes of lifting off in 4 different directions.
In 1980 he started pirate radio "Radio Superstar" and also recorded the song John Massis de krachtpatser. In 1987 he recorded Zet er je tanden in, with Willy Sommers.
In 1983 he also funded a political party called Positief Radicalen in Dutch or Positive Radicals.
He had a few roles too in the Flemish films The Leeuw Van Vlaanderen (1984) and Merlina
In 2004 Johan Heldenbergh performed a play based on Massis' life: Massis, the musical.
In 2005 he became number 172 on the list of the most famous Belgian ever in history.
He was also a source of inspiration for the cartoonist Pirana in the 80's to draw "Het Land Zonder Tanden" (1986). They were also close personal friends.
He also made an appearance in the Kiekeboe-album De spray-historie (1988) with cartoon character "John Massif".
In 1999 the band Noordkaap referred to John Massis by naming their album Massis.

Roberto Succo (3 April 1962 – 23 May 1988) was an Italian serial killer who committed several murders and other violent crimes mostly in Italy and France in the 1980s.