Inside the French drug gangs recruiting children to kill

What the report says

BBC World News reports that Marseille’s drug gangs are increasingly recruiting children and teenagers into violent criminal roles, including street dealing, enforcement and, according to police and court cases cited in the piece, kidnap, torture and murder. The article focuses on the city’s northern estates, where gangs can control access to housing blocks and exploit vulnerable young people with offers of money, status and other inducements.

A central example is a French court case involving two 15-year-old boys who were allegedly trapped by a gang after first seeking paid work. The BBC says one was assigned to handle money and the other to street sales, before both were beaten after being blamed for missing cash. The report says one boy was raped, and that one later escaped while the other was recaptured, assaulted and stabbed before surviving. Six men have since received lengthy prison sentences, according to the BBC.

The piece says the dominant Marseille network is DZ Mafia, which grew during a violent turf war and has used social media to publicize itself. It also cites official French estimates showing a rise in minors involved in trafficking, alongside broader growth in the cocaine market and drug trade. Beyond Marseille, the report includes testimony from a mother whose son was shot after traveling to the city, illustrating the wider human cost.

More generally, the BBC says police and local families see minors as especially exposed to coercion, because gang leaders can manipulate them from prison or abroad and make it hard to leave once they are involved.