Following the arrests of a 19-year-old man at a Marseille deal point and his alleged 23-year-old accomplice, in Cavaillon, for the murder of Nicolas Dumas, a young 22-year-old rugby player who died of a gunshot in head on November 1st in front of a nightclub in Ardèche, the investigation is focused on the actions of criminals from Marseille.
The two suspects, recruited on social networks without the sponsor being known for the moment, admitted the facts. But they explained to investigators that they were only informed of the true nature of their mission en route, the Marseille prosecutor’s office detailed this Tuesday during a press briefing.
Everything in the investigation points to Marseille
“The shooter is of Italian nationality, with no domicile or known criminal record in France, and had arrived in Marseille a few months ago,” explained Nicolas Bessone, the public prosecutor. Arrested two days after the events while he was keeping watch on a deal point in the city of Bricarde, he told the police officer that he had been told that he had to go “to coal” in Valence before his sponsor asks him to go and perform an intimidation gesture at the Saint-Péray nightclub where Halloween night was celebrated that evening.
The vehicle, stolen in Marseille on October 30 and found burned in Valence the same evening of the murder, was driven by a young man of 23, originally from Salon-de-Provence and arrested at his home in Cavaillon. Everything about this crime therefore brought the investigators back to Marseille.
A crime which questions investigators even though this nightclub was not known for links to drug trafficking, although “the question remains open”. There also remains the hotter possibility of an attempted extortion of Marseille drug traffickers who are seeking to diversify their activities: “It’s a working hypothesis,” confirms Nicolas Bessone. “It could be the motive, although there is nothing to confirm it at the moment,” he tempers. Rumor is circulating that another nightclub in the Valencia region was also the target of intimidation shots the same night.
Increase in extortion attempts
In Marseille, several grocery stores have been the target of extortion attempts in recent weeks. After the fire in one of them on Thursday, the scene was repeated this Monday evening, where two men claiming to be from the DZ mafia demanded a payment of 7,000 euros from a business before being arrested, reports Le Figaro.
As its name indicates, the “DZ”, after having imposed itself in blood on drug trafficking in Marseille, seems to be moving more and more towards purely mafia activities which now go beyond simple drug trafficking. Monday, November 5, investigators from OFAST (Anti-Narcotics Office) arrested 14 people in Bouches-du-Rhôn and the Paris region, some of whom were affiliated with the “DZ mafia”. Also, 1.2 million euros were seized from a vehicle as part of this operation.
