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A recent French court case involving two teenage boys held captive and tortured by drug dealers highlights the grip that criminal organisations hold over Marseille. As reported by BBC News, ruthless gangs in France’s second city are increasingly targeting and recruiting vulnerable minors with promises of easy money, trapping them in a brutal cycle of drug dealing, exploitation, and violence.
The Rise of DZ Mafia and Expanding Drug Markets
Marseille’s most powerful criminal outfit, DZ Mafia, emerged victorious from a bloody turf war and now ranks among the most feared gangs in France. The group is named after the internet country code for Algeria, where one of its founders, Mehdi Laribi, was detained under a French arrest warrant earlier this year. According to Dimitri Zoulas, head of France’s anti-drug trafficking unit, the gang gained widespread notoriety in 2023 by releasing video statements and using social media to market itself as a brand.
The rapid expansion of France’s illegal drug market has fueled this growth, with cocaine use surging and annual drug smuggling generating €7bn. Zoulas notes that the trade involves 200,000 people, a significant portion of whom are children. Official figures indicate that more than 10,000 children were involved in trafficking in some capacity during 2025. Kingpins, who typically operate from prison or overseas, view this younger generation as both easy to corrupt and entirely expendable as they expand operations beyond drug sales to kidnap, torture, and murder.
The Human Cost on Families and Recruits
The deadly consequences of gang involvement reach far beyond Marseille’s borders. Karine Brouillard, a mother living in northern France, lost her son Hugo after he ran away and later traveled south in 2023 for a supposed restaurant job. Three weeks later, a doctor informed her that Hugo had arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, in an area controlled by gangs in Quartier Nord where police rarely enter lightly.
Young recruits are often lured by the promise of material goods and wealth. Camil, a 20-year-old who previously worked his way up to running security for DZ Mafia, explained to the BBC that the gang knows how to manipulate vulnerable minds. “You feel loyalty because of what they give you. You’ll stay until the very end, until either death or prison,” he said. Meanwhile, an incarcerated gang member awaiting trial on multiple murder charges, Adam, described climbing the ranks through cold-bloodedness and viewed his role simply as being “another brick in the wall.”
Social Media Recruitment and Law Enforcement Efforts
Law enforcement officials warn that the violence and drug trade pose a severe threat to national security, contributing to family breakdown, hundreds of annual overdoses, and severe economic distortion. Thibaut Fontaine, head of France’s anti-organised-crime unit, explains that gangs now frequently utilize social media and glamourised AI-generated images to advertise jobs for drivers, couriers, and hitmen across cities like Paris, Nantes, and Lille. This online recruitment targets individuals without criminal records who have exploitable vulnerabilities such as difficult family lives.
Despite these challenges, police operations have yielded results. Authorities report that since 2024, approximately 1,000 individuals associated with DZ Mafia have been arrested, with 600 incarcerated. Nevertheless, law enforcement agencies face an increasingly arduous battle as gangs continually adapt their recruitment strategies to replace members who have been arrested or killed.
Additional reporting for this investigation was provided by Marianne Baisnee, Lea Guedj, and Paul Pradier.
