Marseille’s public prosecutor said the situation in this city of some 860,000 had reached “a whole new level” and expressed concern that drug gangs were recruiting younger and younger boys .
A series of murders – one involving a 15-year-old being burned alive and the other committed by a 14-year-old hitman – caused strong emotion in society about the drug war raging in France’s second largest city.
Indignation and astonishment spread across France when it emerged that the two Marseille teenagers had been recruited as hitmen on social networks by a 23-year-old member of the so-called “New Blacks” gang, detained in a prison. located in the city of Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France.
The two murders, committed only two days apart, are part ofa fierce and merciless war between two rival gangs, the DZ Mafia and the New Blacks.
Rival gangs are engaged in a turf war over a drug trafficking location located in the 3rd arrondissement of Marseille.
The northern resorts of the seaside town have a reputation for danger, regularly making national headlines for drug busts and murders.
One of them larded with 50 shots, the other shoots down a VTC driver
The public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone, declared on Sunday during a press conference that once recruited by the detainee, the 15-year-old had been tasked with setting fire to the front door of a rival drug dealer in exchange for a sum of 2,000 euros.
As he prepared to act, the 15-year-old was approached by rival gang members, who searched him and found a weapon.
In response, the teenager was “stabbed with 50 stab wounds” and taken to the city of Fonscolombes, where, according to the results of the autopsy, “he was burned alive,” Mr. Bessone said.
The inmate who recruited the boy didn’t stop there.
He recruited another teenager, again on social media. This time, It concerns a 14-year-old boy, to whom he offered the sum of 50,000 euros to murder a member of a rival gang.
The teenager – who was already known to the police – has been in the care of social services since the age of nine. Accepting the job and accompanied by a friend, he ordered a Bolt vehicle to go to the Félix Pyat district, where his target was located.
Arriving at his destination, the teenager asked the 36-year-old taxi driver, identified as Nessim Ramdane, to wait for the couple in the car. When Ramdane refused, the 14-year-old shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
According to Mr. Bessone, it was the detainee himself – the “sponsor” – who called the police to report the boy’s whereabouts. The youth had fled to hide and admitted to the murder after being apprehended, but claimed it was an accident. The inmate behind the recruitment appeared before a judge on Sunday and was charged in the case.
The attorney general has since announced the opening of several investigations into these two cases, retaining the classification of “organized gang murder” for the 15-year-old teenager who was burned alive.
For the death of Nessim Ramdane, 36, the investigation will focus on “criminal association with a view to committing a crime” and “premeditated murder by an organized gang”.
Boys recruited on social networks
Mr Bessone said the situation in this city of some 860,000 people had reached “a whole new level” and expressed concern that boys were being recruited at such a young age.
The public prosecutor of Marseille spoke about the growing violence in the city at Euronews in March, warning of further escalation caused by what he said was “money that circulates, corrupts and kills.”
Through advertisements on social media, such as Snapchat, dealers target vulnerable young people looking for quick money.
Drug-related deaths in Marseille reached a record high last year, with 49 murders. However, the situation seemed to have improved when the figures revealed that the number of drug-related deaths had been divided by three for the period from January to September 2024compared to the previous year.
Yet it’s not a silver bullet, as French politicians have spent decades fighting over how to handle the situation, while many residents accuse authorities of leaving them behind.
The French drug trafficking market currently brings in 3 billion euros per year. A deal point can bring in between 25 and 90,000 euros in a single daywhile five to ten points of sale are dismantled every day in the city of Marseille alone.
Last year, French authorities seized 7 tonnes of cannabis, 21 million euros in criminal assets and 107 assault rifles in the region of the second largest city in France.