This act of violence shocked France: a teenager was stabbed 50 times before being burned alive. The crime is said to have taken place between gangs in the drug environment.
In the southern French port city of Marseille, a 15-year-old was stabbed 50 times and then burned alive. Apparently the crime committed on Wednesday was due to drug-related violence, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said at a press conference on Sunday. He spoke of “unprecedented cruelty.” The case resulted in another violent death involving a 14-year-old alleged perpetrator.
Marseille is the second largest and also one of the poorest cities in France. Violence related to the drug trade is commonplace here, and in recent years several gangs have been fighting for control of the lucrative drug trade. Prosecutor Bessone said the perpetrators and victims of this violence were getting younger and younger.
Teenager was supposed to “intimidate” gang members
In the case now being investigated, the 15-year-old victim was reportedly hired by a 23-year-old prison inmate in an online network. The prisoner, who describes himself as a member of a gang known as the DZ Mafia, had hired the 15-year-old to intimidate a rival by setting his apartment door on fire. The young person was promised 2,000 euros for this. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the 15-year-old was discovered by members of a rival gang. The gang members repeatedly stabbed the boy before setting him on fire.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the violent act resulted in another violent death. After the 15-year-old’s death, the same prisoner as in the first criminal assignment recruited a 14-year-old youth to take revenge on and kill a member of the so-called Blacks gang. The prisoner promised a “reward” of 50,000 euros for this.
The 14-year-old then hired a 36-year-old father, who had nothing to do with drug-related crime, as a driver. When he refused to wait for the teenager, the boy shot the man in the head. For this he used a pistol that he had with him.
With these two latest deaths, the number of violent deaths in Marseille linked to drug trafficking rose to 17 since the beginning of the year. There were 49 such deaths in all of last year.
AFP/shem