Marseille was shaken by an unprecedented wave of violence, marked by acts of rare brutality and the participation of very young adolescents. Two particularly atrocious murders have highlighted the growing involvement of minors in narchomicide, a phenomenon of increasing concern for the authorities.
A 15-year-old boy was stabbed around fifty times before being burned alive, and a VTC driver, a father, was shot dead by a 14-year-old boy. These events marked a turning point, according to the public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone, who denounced “unprecedented savagery”. He also underlined an “ultra-rejuvenation” of the perpetrators, who now respond to offers of murder via social networks, an alarming phenomenon for the justice system and the police.
These young people, often recruited for small sums, are used as “jobbers” in turf wars between traffickers, particularly between the DZ Mafia and the “Blacks” clan in sensitive neighborhoods of Marseille. This conflict, which has intensified this year, has claimed many lives, including innocent people. On Friday, a 36-year-old VTC driver was killed even though he was not supposed to be the initial target. This innocent person is the first collateral victim of this war in 2024.
The Marseille authorities, already faced with a record number of narchomicides in 2023, are particularly concerned by this violence. The minors involved often act with “frightening amateurism” and a total lack of remorse. The situation is all the more serious as social networks play a central role in the recruitment of these young killers, an aspect that law enforcement is beginning to take into consideration.
The prosecutor general of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, Franck Rastoul, had already warned in September of the devastation caused by drug trafficking, which “undermines the very foundations of our society”. The events of this week only confirm the urgency of taking action against this scourge which attracts more and more young people to extremely violent criminal acts, with total disregard for human life.
