Marseille, France, has been rocked by two brutal killings this week, including the horrific murder of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed 50 times and burned alive in what authorities believe to be drug-related violence. Prosecutors revealed on Sunday that the boy’s death was one of “unprecedented savagery” in the city’s ongoing turf war over control of the lucrative drug trade.
The 15-year-old was murdered on Wednesday after being recruited via social media by a 23-year-old inmate, who promised him €2,000 to intimidate a rival gang member by setting fire to his door. The teenager, who had been working for the notorious DZ Mafia gang, was spotted by members of a rival gang who discovered he was carrying a gun. They brutally stabbed him before setting him on fire in the Fonscolombes housing estate.
Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the victim’s friend, also aged 15, managed to escape. The boy’s death comes amid a worrying trend of younger and younger individuals becoming involved in the city’s drug trade. “Victims and perpetrators are getting increasingly younger,” Bessone remarked at a news conference.
In another shocking incident, just two days after the teenager’s murder, a 36-year-old football player named Nessim Ramdane was shot dead by a 14-year-old in what appears to be a linked act of revenge. Ramdane, who also worked as a chauffeur, was shot in the back of the head after he failed to comply with the orders of the 14-year-old, who had been recruited by the same prisoner responsible for hiring the 15-year-old.
The rise in such extreme acts of violence has drawn public attention to the deep-rooted issue of drug trafficking in Marseille, which has seen a significant uptick in deaths related to the trade. Seventeen people have been killed in drug-related violence in the city since the start of the year, with the victims often recruited through social media to act as “foot soldiers” or even assassins.
Last year, the city recorded a staggering 49 deaths connected to drug violence. Prosecutors warn that young people are increasingly “intoxicated by easy drug money” and have become desensitised to violence. Franck Rastoul, public prosecutor at the Aix-en-Provence court of appeal, stressed the urgent need to tackle drug trafficking, which he says is “undermining the very foundations of society.”