Two deaths on Wednesday, and again on Thursday night, have caused a stir in the city of Marseille, against a backdrop of open warfare between two rival gangs

An alarming rise in violence involving very young minors

The city of Marseille has been rocked by acts of violence of unprecedented brutality, with more and more minors finding themselves at the heart of sordid crimes. At a press conference held on Sunday, October 6, public prosecutor Nicolas Bessone revealed chilling details of the latest “narcomicide” perpetrated in the city of Marseille. The victim, a 15-year-old teenager, was savagely attacked, stabbed more than 50 times, before being burned alive. This horrific murder comes on the heels of another tragedy which broke out on Friday, this time involving a suspect aged just 14.

These two cases, tragically linked, highlight what the prosecutor describes as “rare savagery” and illustrate an “ultra-youthfulness” of the perpetrators of this violence, in a context of intense rivalry between gangs for the control of drug trafficking.

A collateral victim: the murder of Nessim Ramdane

The second victim, 36-year-old Nessim Ramdane, was a family man and VTC driver who, at the time of the tragedy, was simply plying his trade on the Bolt platform. This well-known amateur footballer tragically lost his life on Thursday night. According to the public prosecutor, the young suspect and his accomplice demanded that the driver wait for them at a specific location. When Nessim refused, the 14-year-old coldly fired a fatal shot into the back of his head with a 357 Magnum pistol.

A settling of scores against a backdrop of territorial warfare

The murder of Nessim, who was not the original target, is part of a series of attacks linked to a turf war between two rival clans in Marseille’s 3rd arrondissement: the DZ Mafia and the “Blacks” group from the Cité Félix-Pyat. These gangs are fighting for control of the Moulin de Mai retail outlet in the Belle de Mai district.

Prosecutor Bessone highlighted the escalating violence between these groups, noting with concern the growing sophistication of their actions, as well as the increasingly youthful profile of the perpetrators. These tragedies mark a worrying turning point in Marseilles drug trafficking, plunging the city into a spiral of violence of unprecedented intensity.