The historic port city on the Mediterranean coast witnessed two murders this week, a 15-year-old boy and a 36-year-old footballer.
Marseille, France’s second largest city, suffers from drug-related violence. In recent years, the city has seen a war for control of the highly lucrative drug market between various clans, including the DZ Mafia and Yoda.
Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told a news conference on Sunday the victims and perpetrators of such violence are getting younger. According to him, a 15-year-old was killed on Wednesday, while on Friday, 36-year-old footballer Nessim Ramdane was shot dead by a 14-year-old in a case related to Wednesday’s murder
The prosecutor said the 23-year-old prisoner at Luynes jail south of Aix-en-Provence had hired the teenager on social media to intimidate a rival by setting fire to his door, adding that the young man had been promised 2,000 euros.
The teenager was spotted by members of the rival gang, who searched him and found he had a gun. He “was stabbed 50 times and taken to the Fonscolombes housing estate, where, according to the results of the autopsy, he was burned alive,” the prosecutor said.
The same prisoner then turned to social media again, recruiting a 14-year-old to carry out an act of revenge and murder a member of the Blacks gang, promising him 50,000 euros in return. The prosecutor said the teenager hired Ramdane, who also worked as a chauffeur, in order to support his family. He asked the driver “to drop them off and wait for them, but he apparently didn’t comply” and was subsequently shot in the back of the head. The teenager was detained.
The last two cases mark an increase in the number of drug-related murders in Marseille since the beginning of the year to 17. Last year, drug-related violence caused a record 49 deaths in Marseille.
Franck Rastoul, public prosecutor at the Aix-en-Provence court of appeal, warned of the scourge of drug-related violence. “It is imperative that we fully understand the ravages of drug trafficking, which undermines the very foundations of our society,” he said in September. Young people, according to him, were “intoxicated by easy drug money” to the point of “total disregard for human life.”
