The woman chose to contact the police even though she had just purchased hashish from a drug dealer.
It was because, during their brief encounter in a Marseille housing estate in 2022, the teenage vendor had given her a message in addition to the illicit narcotics.We need assistance since we are being kept hostage. It said, “We are fifteen years old.
A French court heard earlier this year that the adolescent dealer was one of two boys detained by a group that they had both first approached in search of paid job, even though it was illegal.
Quick Fact
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| What Happened | Drug gangs are recruiting vulnerable teenagers into criminal activities. |
| Where | Quartier Nord, Marseille, France |
| When | Ongoing situation |
| Main Group | DZ Mafia |
| People Involved | Teenagers, local families, residents and law enforcement authorities. |
| Key Concern | Youth recruitment, drug trafficking, gang violence and exploitation. |
| Why It Matters | Gang recruitment puts vulnerable young people and local communities at risk. |
Teenagers Brutalised by Criminal Gang
While the other youngster worked the streets surrounding the Frais-Vallon estate, one lad had been assigned to handle money. However, supervisors soon accused them of causing “shortfalls” in takings.
The court was informed that they were subjected to frequent beatings and coerced into dancing nude in front of a camera as a kind of blackmail. A boy was also sexually assaulted.
The two youngsters attempted to flee from a second-story window hours after the mother received the message, hurting themselves in the process. One escaped, while the other was apprehended, assaulted, and stabbed but managed to live.
Inside Marseille’s Dangerous Drug Gang World
The lads’ tale demonstrates how drug gangs control a portion of the second-largest city in France.
Although Marseille’s hip-hop movement, street art, and Mediterranean culture have made it a popular tourist destination, things are different outside of the city center.
After months of effort, a press crew was able to infiltrate this perilous environment, which is centered on the port city’s high-rise housing estates and impoverished neighborhoods that are off-limits to the police.
We discovered a setting where vicious gangs entice defenseless youth with the promise of quick cash, only to ensnare them in a world of drug trafficking, violence, and abuse.
DZ Mafia’s Rise to Criminal Power
After winning a deadly territorial fight, the most powerful gang in the city, the DZ Mafia, became one of France’s most feared criminal organizations.
Algeria’s official internet country code is DZ. Mehdi Laribi, a French-Algerian and one of the gang’s founders, was arrested earlier this year on a French arrest order.
According to Dimitri Zoulas, the director of the nation’s anti-drug trafficking unit, the criminal group gained popularity in 2023 when it became the first French gang to capitalize on its reputation by issuing video statements and utilizing social media to sell itself as a brand.
Its most recent declaration was made in July when the mayor of a nearby town had to be placed under police protection due to information indicating that the organization would attack him.
Six black-clad masked men were seen in an internet video standing behind a table as one of them made a statement refuting the participation of the DZ Mafia.
The gang has grown quickly thanks to France’s growing illicit drug industry, which has witnessed a spike in cocaine imports along with large amounts of cannabis and other narcotics.
It is anticipated that there will soon be two million cocaine users in France.
DZ Mafia Exploits France’s Vulnerable Youth
One such is the DZ Mafia. It needs more gang members—more kids—in order to reach more clients.
We have discovered that it is now enlisting young people from all around France to commit murder, kidnapping, and torture in addition to selling narcotics.
The kingpins who usually govern this generation from jail or abroad view them as both disposable and easy to corrupt.
Additionally, once these kids enter Marseille’s underground, it is extremely difficult to bring them out, as courts and police caution.
A Mother’s Fear of Gang Recruitment
Mother Karine Brouillard, who lives at the opposite end of France and is about as far from the Mediterranean coast as it gets, is one of the few people who understands the human cost of Marseille’s gangs.
Hugo, her son, first fled his native hamlet in the Nord department at the age of 15 following a dispute with his family. Three days later, in Marseille, some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away, he was apprehended by police while carrying cash and cannabis.
However, Hugo informed his parents that he had found a vacation work at a restaurant close to Marseille and that he intended to return south in 2023.
Mother’s Son Caught in Gang Violence
“He gave regular updates,” Karine recalls. “He called me, everything was going well.”
A doctor phoned three weeks later. “Your son arrived last night,” he said, and Karine believes she will never forget it. He was shot in the head.
Police assume Hugo was connected to a group and that he was taken for medical attention from a gang-controlled territory.
Quartier Nord was that region.
As soon as Fadella’s Peugeot crosses a gang roadblock, car horns ring, and the youths working there see our camera right away. Fadella says, “Wait, stop filming,” as a gray 4×4 pushes us to the side of the road.
Families Fear Youth Gang Recruitment
She informs the curious driver, “I’m writing a report for my housing association.” In the end, he consents to let us go if we cease filming.
Seeing a non-police car drive so aggressively is unsettling, and seeing it go is relieving.The gangs have been quite violent lately, says Fadella. “What we simply try to do is make sure our young people understand what’s happening is wrong.”
Fadella refers to a broader concern among local families, which is that their kids are tempted by large quantities of money to follow a criminal path that deprives them of their innocence.
