Marseille is experiencing an escalation of violence linked to drug trafficking that has generated what authorities, legal professionals, and community actors describe as a collective psychosis: a state of constant fear, social trauma, and a perception of the State’s loss of control over parts of the urban territory. The most alarming element of this crisis is the rise in murders of minors and the increasing role of adolescents, even children, both as victims and as coerced actors within criminal networks.
The case that has recently shaken public opinion is the murder of Adel, a 15-year-old boy, executed with a shot to the head and subsequently burned on a beach in the city. His body was discovered by other children who were going to school, an episode that symbolises to what extent violence has become normalised and has turned public, visible, and seemingly arbitrary.
According to data from the French Ministry of Justice, the number of minors involved in drug trafficking has quadrupled in the last eight years. In Marseille, drug trafficking has evolved into a fragmented yet highly competitive model, where a dominant organisation (the so-called DZ Mafia) operates through a franchise-type structure, with multiple points of sale managed by young recruits, often through social networks.
This new criminal ecosystem is characterised by:
- Disappearance of traditional codes of organised crime (not attacking during the day, not exposing bodies, not involving minors).
- Extreme and demonstrative violence, including public executions, burned bodies, and the dissemination of videos on social networks.
- Mass recruitment of minors, many of whom are migrants or vulnerable adolescents, often subjected to coercion, fictitious debts, and physical violence.
Local actors describe a situation of criminal anarchy, where the logic of fear has replaced any stable hierarchy. Young people, exposed daily to violent deaths, have lost both the fear of killing and the fear of dying.
The murder of Mehdi Kessaci, a 20-year-old probationary police officer with no links to drug trafficking, marked a turning point. It is believed that his death was an intimidating message directed at his brother, Amine Kessaci, an anti-drug activist and emerging figure in the local political arena. This case reinforces the perception that even institutional actors or their family members are not beyond the reach of gangs.
Lawyers, journalists, and activists have begun to reduce or abandon their activities, or to carry them out under police protection for fear of retaliation. Some legal professionals openly claim that the rule of law has been subordinated to the power of gangs in certain neighbourhoods.
In light of this situation, the authorities have intensified police operations through what they call “security bombings”: massive and repeated interventions in high-crime areas, with riot units, closure of sales points, and constant arrests.
These figures show significant activity:
- More than 40 recently dismantled points of sale.
- €42 million in seized criminal assets in one year.
- An estimate of up to 20,000 persons directly or indirectly involved in the drug trade in Marseille.
- A national drug trafficking market valued at 7 billion euros annually.
However, even police officials and prosecutors acknowledge that many of those detained are exploited youths, some held against their will, and that repression does not stop the constant flow of new recruits.
One of the most concerning elements is the open use of TikTok and other social media to advertise the sale of drugs and recruit minors with seemingly legitimate “job” offers. High earnings are promised (€200-500 daily), but the reality is often one of modern slavery, with violence, sexual abuse, and threats against families.
The crisis has reopened an intense political debate. Far-right sectors demand a state of emergency, greater powers for the police, and severe immigration restrictions, attributing the problem to mass immigration and the failure of integration. Other voices such as lawyers, experts and journalists reject this interpretation and warn against the use of fear as a political tool. They argue that violence is the result of decades of social neglect, structural poverty, corruption, and failed public policies, and that police repression only addresses the symptoms, not the causes.
Marseille exemplifies a hybrid security crisis, where organised crime, social exclusion, digitalisation of crime, and weakening of institutional trust converge. The psychosis spreading through the city is not just fear of violence, but the feeling that the social order is eroding and that traditional solutions are no longer sufficient.
For security experts, the case of Marseille raises a key question: how to regain control without fuelling a spiral of repression that ends up exacerbating the very problem that one seeks to resolve.
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