Two recent brutal killings involving teenagers have shaken Marseille, a city long plagued by organized crime and drug-related violence.
Last week, a 14-year-old boy killed a taxi driver in a failed attempt at revenge for the murder of a 15-year-old.
Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone highlighted the disturbing trend of local drug lords recruiting young boys to kill “without any remorse or reflection.”
At a Sunday press conference, Bessone described the “unprecedented savagery” of the 15-year-old’s death, which was connected to a violent feud between two gangs, the “DZ Mafia” and the “Blacks.”
Prosecutors revealed that a member of the DZ Mafia, currently imprisoned, paid the 15-year-old €2,000 ($2,192; £1,676) to intimidate a rival by setting fire to his door.
The teenager was caught by members of the Blacks gang, who searched him, discovered a gun, and then stabbed him before setting him on fire.
Bessone noted, “He was stabbed 50 times and burned alive” at the Fonscolombes housing estate, while a friend managed to escape.
In retaliation, the DZ Mafia member hired a 14-year-old via social media, offering €50,000 ($55,000; £42,000) to exact revenge.
However, the boy shot and killed 36-year-old taxi driver Nessim Ramdane when the driver refused to wait for him to carry out the attack.
The prisoner who orchestrated the plan later called the police to turn in the young shooter, who was subsequently taken into custody.
The boy admitted to shooting the driver but claimed the gun had fired “accidentally.”
Franck Rastoul, public prosecutor at the Aix-en-Provence court of appeal, warned of the increasing danger of drug-fueled violence, stating that young people are “intoxicated by easy drug money” to the point of showing “total disregard for human life.”
This isn’t the first instance of youth violence tied to the drug trade in Marseille. In 2021, a 14-year-old was shot dead by a scooter-riding assailant outside the Les Marronniers housing estate, leaving two other boys, aged 14 and eight, injured.
In March of this year, French police launched a major crackdown on drug-related crime in Marseille, resulting in 627 arrests, the seizure of 450kg of cannabis, 19 weapons, and €1.6m ($17.5m; £1.3m) in cash.
These recent killings bring the number of drug-related deaths in Marseille to 17 since the beginning of 2024.
Source-BBC
