BBC investigation: the brutal drug trafficking gangs in France that recruit teenagers as killers

Author, James Waterhouse Author's title, BBC News, Paris correspondent Publication date 22 minutes ago Reading time: 12 min Warning: this article contains strong language and descriptions of sexual violence. Photo caption, Many hitmen are recruited through social media. Even though she had just bought hashish from a drug dealer, the woman decided to call the police. This was because, along with the illegal drugs, the young seller had handed her a note during their brief encounter in a housing estate in Marseille in 2022. "We are being held captive and we need help. We are 15 years old," the message read. As became known earlier this year in a French court, the young dealer was one of two boys being held by a gang that both had initially approached looking for paid work, albeit illegal work. One of the boys had been put in charge of handling the money, while the other worked the streets around the Frais-Vallon housing estate. However, their bosses soon accused them of being responsible for shortfalls in the takings. The court was told that what followed were constant beatings and being forced to dance naked in front of a camera as a form of blackmail. One of the boys was also raped. Hours after the woman received the note, the two teenagers tried to escape through a second-floor window, injuring themselves in the process. One managed to flee, while the other was captured, beaten and stabbed, but survived. Jump to Most read and continue reading Most read End of Most read Arrests were made. Photos found on the phone of one of the boys' alleged torturers showed other young people in a similar state of distress. Six men have since received severe sentences for what happened to the two teenagers. The story of these young people highlights the control that drug gangs exert over some areas of France's second-largest city. While the mix of Mediterranean culture, street art and the hip-hop scene has made Marseille a popular tourist destination, outside the city centre the story is different. After months of attempts, a BBC team managed to enter this dangerous world, centred on the marginal streets and high-rise housing complexes of the port city, which police cannot easily access. We encountered an environment where ruthless gangs lure vulnerable young people with promises of easy money, only to trap them in a world of drug trafficking, brutality and exploitation. We saw how the gangs use social media to recruit hitmen, and we spoke to several young people involved in the violence. From prison, a gang member accused of taking part in several murders explained how his "cold blood" had helped him rise through the organisation. Image source, Social media Photo caption, A still frame from one of the DZ mafia's most infamous video statements. Territorial war The city's most powerful gang, the DZ mafia, emerged victorious from a bloody territorial war and is now one of the most feared criminal organisations in France. DZ is the official internet country code for Algeria, where one of the gang's founders, a French-Algerian named Mehdi Laribi, was arrested earlier this year under a French arrest warrant. According to Dimitri Zoulas, head of the country's anti-drug unit, this criminal organisation rose to prominence in 2023, when it became the first French gang to capitalise on its notoriety by issuing video statements and using social media to promote itself as a brand. Its most recent statement came in July, when the mayor of a nearby village had to be placed under police protection after intelligence services suggested he was at risk of being targeted by the group. In a video posted online, six masked men dressed in black appeared standing behind a table, while one of them read a statement denying the DZ mafia's involvement. Underage dealers The growing market for illegal drugs in France, which has seen an increase in cocaine imports along with large volumes of cannabis and synthetic drugs, has also contributed to the gang's rapid growth. According to Zoulas, the number of cocaine users in France is expected to soon reach two million, up from 600,000 in 2017. Drug trafficking in France generates US$7.83 billion a year and involves 200,000 people, he adds. Many of those distributing the drugs are children, and authorities say the number of minors involved in drug trafficking is rising. According to official figures, during 2025, more than 10,000 children were implicated in some way. The DZ mafia is a clear example. To reach more customers, it needs more gang members, more children. We have learned that it is now recruiting young people from across France, not only to sell drugs, but also to carry out kidnappings, torture and murders. They are a generation considered easy to corrupt, but also expendable, by the kingpins who usually control them from prison or from abroad. And, as police and judges warn, once these children enter Marseille's underworld, it is very difficult to get them out. Image source, Lea Guedj / BBC Photo caption, Karine received a call from a doctor about her son Hugo: "Your son arrived last night. He was shot in the head." "A shot to the head" Few people know the human cost of Marseille's gangs like Karine Brouillard, a mother who lives at the other end of France, almost as far as possible from the Mediterranean coast. Her son, Hugo, first ran away from home at the age of 15, from a village in the Nord department, after an argument with his family. Police picked him up three days later, almost 1,000 km away, in Marseille, with money and cannabis in his possession. He was taken back home. But several years later, in 2023, Hugo planned to return to the south, telling his parents he had landed a summer job at a restaurant near Marseille. "I kept track of everything regularly," Karine recalls. "He called me, everything was fine." Three weeks later, a doctor called. Karine says she will never forget his words: "Your son arrived last night. He was shot in the head." Police believe Hugo was transferred for medical treatment from a gang-controlled area and suspect he was involved with one of them. That area was the Quartier Nord. Image source, Lea Guedj / BBC Photo caption, The DZ mafia wields its power in Marseille's Quartier Nord. Cornered The best way to access the Quartier Nord, where the DZ mafia wields its power, is with the help of Fadella Ouidef, a 41-year-old resident and mother of four who offers to give us a tour of the area. Thirty-seven seconds after entering a housing estate, we find ourselves cornered. The moment Fadella's Peugeot passes a police checkpoint, car horns sound; the teenagers guarding it immediately notice our camera. "Wait, stop filming," Fadella warns, as a grey SUV forces us to stop at the side of the road. "I'm doing a report for my residents' association," she tells the driver. Eventually, he agrees to let us go if we stop filming. It is unsettling to see a non-police vehicle move with such decisiveness, and a relief to see it leave. "Lately, the gangs have become very aggressive," Fadella explains. "What we try to do is make sure our young people understand that what is happening is wrong." Fadella is referring to a widespread fear among local families: that their children will be tempted by huge sums of money into a life of crime that robs them of their innocence. Image source, Lea Guedj / BBC Photo caption, Camil, who claims to have left the DZ mafia, only agreed to speak to the BBC outside the city, on a boat. "They give you whatever you want" Money was what led one young man to spend his teenage years with the DZ mafia. So that our interviewees can speak freely, or for security reasons, we have agreed to protect their identities. Camil tells us that he worked his way up the gang's ranks until he was "in charge of security" in an area they control. The young man, now 20 years old and claiming to have left the group, is very distrustful of our presence, but agrees to tell us how the gang recruits young members. "They know how to get into your head. They give you whatever you want," he says. This can range from luxury cars and spacious apartments to drugs and prostitutes, he explains. "You feel loyalty for what they give you. You'll stay until the end, until death or prison." Camil also offers a blunt assessment of what happens if the gang identifies a weakness in a recruit: "They'll exploit it. You're their puppet, it's over." Adam (not his real name), a member of the DZ mafia, tells us he was part of a hit squad during a Snapchat video call. He is currently in prison awaiting trial, after being implicated in several murders. "People noticed my determination, my coldness, and before I knew it, I was rising through the gang's hierarchy," Adam says. "That became my place, and I had to accept it." During the conversation, he admitted that the murders he is accused of were "quite shocking." "Attempts in broad daylight, in traffic jams... they can range from beating a guy, slapping him, to taking him in front of his mother and burning him alive in a car. I think I have good self-control, I handle it quite well." Image source, Marianne Baisnee / BBC Photo caption, "Thank you, see you soon" is written in graffiti on a wall, next to price lists for cocaine, hashish and marijuana. We challenged Adam, asking whether he feels remorse when committing such acts of brutality. He says he feels "partly guilty," but claims he regrets nothing. "If I hadn't done all this, there would be other people who would have done it in my place, and so on. I'm just another cog in the machine," he says. Like so many other teenagers in Marseille, he knew that a lot of money could be made quickly in drug trafficking. Now, in his twenties, he admits that the environment he entered was a trap. At an alleged point of sale in a social housing complex, cordoned off and controlled by the DZ mafia, there are price lists for cocaine, hashish and marijuana painted in graffiti on a wall. The estate functions as a natural fortress for drug dealers. With only one main road in and out, they can control the flow of customers and see if the police are approaching. It is not uncommon for the sound of automatic gunfire to fill the night air in these areas. After months of negotiations, a leader of a rival group, who was at a strategic point of the market, agrees to meet us at his workplace. Image source, Lea Guedj / BBC Photo caption, The gang member "Joe" says he earned more than US$3,000 a month when he was 13. "Everyone makes their own choices" We enter the estate early in the morning; the birdsong and children on their way to school contrast sharply with the industrial-scale criminal operation taking place there. "Joe" says he earned more than US$3,000 a month when he was 13. Now he says that figure has risen to between US$5,000 and US$11,000 a month. He seems to consider his path in life predestined, even if it is a lucrative one. We ask Joe whether he thinks about the lives lost to the violence perpetrated by his gang, but this 23-year-old has long since resigned himself to the pain and destruction that drug trafficking can cause. "It destroys people, but everyone makes their own choices," he says with a shrug. According to Zoulas, of the anti-drug unit, the activities of Joe's gang and the DZ mafia represent a threat to national security. According to him, every year there are traffic accidents, domestic violence, depression, suicides and more than 700 overdoses, "and that distorts the economy." "We are heading towards a possible systemic collapse of the criminal justice system." Image source, Social media Photo caption, Members of the DZ mafia were filmed firing guns from a balcony in Marseille; the footage was later posted on social media. Social media recruitment Police have had success in Marseille and other cities in the fight against drug gangs. Criminal operations are being disrupted, more kingpins are being arrested and drugs are being seized. According to police, since 2024, around 1,000 people linked to the DZ mafia have been arrested and 600 imprisoned. But overall, this is a battle that is becoming harder, not easier. As criminal gangs seek to expand their operations or replace members who have been arrested or killed, social media has become a powerful recruitment tool, especially since the covid pandemic, when much street drug dealing moved online. On social media, we found countless posts advertising jobs in Marseille for aspiring drivers, couriers and hitmen, often with idealised AI-generated images. In addition, the recruitment horizons are widening, as it has become harder to attract local young people because they know better the potential consequences. According to police, the adverts can reach teenagers in almost every corner of France, including Paris, Nantes and Lille, and they exert a powerful pull towards Marseille and the Quartier Nord. According to law enforcement authorities, online advertising has also changed the typical profile of someone joining a gang's ranks. Now, it is usually someone without a criminal record, but who has vulnerabilities that can be exploited, such as a difficult family life. "These people are recruited by unscrupulous sponsors who send them into the lion's den," explains Thibaut Fontaine, head of the French unit against organised crime. According to him, their lack of criminal experience makes it easier to arrest them quickly. Karine still has no idea why her son Hugo was shot. When asked what she would say to the gang leaders who recruit children and young people in Marseille, she replied: "They destroy families. Little sisters, little brothers, grandparents. But of course, I don't think those people have a heart." The restaurant where her son said he was going to work did exist, but staff told Karine they had never hired anyone named Hugo. The cause of his death is almost certainly to be found in Marseille's Quartier Nord neighbourhood. With additional reporting by Marianne Baisnee, Lea Guedj and Paul Pradier. This article was originally written in English and we used an artificial intelligence tool to translate it. A BBC journalist reviewed the text before publication. More information about how we use AI. Download the new BBC World Service app. Choose BBC News Mundo and receive news alerts, documentaries and analysis, all in one place. Important: the new app is not available in the UK or the United States. You can also follow us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and on our WhatsApp channel. And don't forget to subscribe here to our newsletter to receive a special selection of our best content every Friday.