Problems related to drug trafficking in the French city of Marseille and the permanent conflicts between rival gangs, with the increasingly frequent recruitment of teenagers to sell drugs or carry out revenge, have once again gained prominence with the recent news of a 15-year-old years since he was stabbed “50 times” and burned.
The case occurred last Wednesday. The teenager had been recruited via social media by a 23-year-old man, arrested in France and a member of the DZ Mafia group – one of the country’s main drug cartels – to intimidate a member of a rival gang. In return, he was promised a payment of two thousand euros.
However, as he approached the building where the ‘target’ was located, he was spotted by members of another gang who were nearby. When they realized that the young man was carrying a firearm, they violently attacked him. “He was stabbed 50 times and burned alive, in a scene of savagery that, if not unprecedented, is rare”, described Nicolas Bessone, Marseille prosecutor, in a press conference this Sunday, cited hair “Le Monde”.
After this incident, the same inmate ordered a second revenge, this time to kill a member of the “Blacks” gang, offering 50 thousand euros. He recruited, again through social media, a minor under 14 years old.
In the early hours of the morning when he went to carry out the mission, the teenager, accompanied by another individual, asked the driver – a driver from a private transport service, who had no connection to drug trafficking – to wait for him, but he refused. The young man then shot the driver, hitting him in the back of the head. After the crime, he fled and tried to hide, but the man who had recruited him reported him to the police, who ended up arresting the minor.
These two cases once again drew attention to the serious problems affecting Marseille. In recent years, the city, the second largest in France, has been the scene of numerous acts of violence linked to drug trafficking. Rival gangs compete for control of this market.
Youth recruitment
The city, ravaged by violence linked to drug trafficking, has been the scene of a war between several clans for control of this highly profitable market. In March this year, French President Emmanuel Macron promised an “unprecedented operation” to put an end to drug trafficking. “The objective is to try to destroy the networks and drug traffickers and make those who make your life miserable disappear”, explained the head of state to the inhabitants of a neighborhood in the city.
The victims and perpetrators of crimes are increasingly younger, recalled prosecutor Nicolas Bessone. “We are witnessing an ‘ultra-rejuvenation’ of attackers.” The two most recent deaths bring the number of drug-related homicides in Marseille this year to 17. In 2023, 49 deaths were recorded and 123 injured.
Num article published in April last yearAgence France-Presse (AFP) explains the phenomenon of teenage recruitment. Drug traffickers are finding it increasingly difficult to find local people willing to risk their lives selling drugs on the streets. Therefore, they increasingly turn to “vulnerable teenagers” from other cities in France.
“By subcontracting street sales to disposable young people, drug bosses in Marseille ensure that they will not know enough about the network to reveal information if they are arrested,” explained to AFP a person responsible for combating drug trafficking in France.
The process typically starts with ads on social media, like Snapchat. Young people are attracted by the promise of quick and easy money, but many end up “reduced to a state of semi-slavery, held hostage and even tortured.”
The AFP also explains that the roots of drug trafficking in Marseille are “deep and ancient”, with “highly sophisticated” gangs controlling it. “The Marseilles Corsican mafia dominated heroin trafficking into the United States between the 1930s and 1970s, until the operation known as ‘The French Connection’ was dismantled.” However, “the criminal underworld, which has since turned to cocaine and cannabis, continues to have a strong presence in France’s poorest city.”
Source: expresso.pt
