15-year-old teenager stabbed 50 times and burned alive in Marseille as drug-related violence escalates

Marseille, France, was rocked by two brutal murders this week, including the horrific murder of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed 50 times and burned alive, which authorities believe is linked to drug-related violence. Prosecutors announced Sunday that the boy's death was an example of “unprecedented cruelty” in the city's ongoing turf war for control of the lucrative drug trade.

The 15-year-old was murdered on Wednesday after being recruited via social media by a 23-year-old prisoner who promised him €2,000 to intimidate a rival gang member by setting his door on fire. The teenager, who worked for the notorious DZ Mafia gang, was spotted by members of a rival gang who discovered he was carrying a gun. They brutally stabbed him to death before setting him on fire in the Fonscolombes housing estate.

Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the victim's friend, also 15, managed to escape. The boy's death comes amid a worrying trend of younger people becoming involved in the city's drug trade. “Victims and perpetrators are getting younger and younger,” Bessone noted at a press conference.

In another shocking incident, just two days after the teenager's murder, a 36-year-old footballer named Nessim Ramdane was shot dead by a 14-year-old in what appeared to be a related act of revenge. Ramdane, who also worked as a chauffeur, was shot in the back of the head after failing to comply with the orders of the 14-year-old, who had been recruited by the same prisoner responsible for hiring the 15-year-old.

The increase in such extreme acts of violence has drawn public attention to the deep-rooted problem of drug trafficking in Marseille, which has seen a significant increase in trafficking-related deaths. Seventeen people have been killed in drug-related violence in the city since the start of the year, with victims often recruited via social media as “foot soldiers” or even assassins.

Last year, the city recorded a staggering 49 deaths related to drug violence. Prosecutors warn that young people are increasingly “high on easy drug money” and desensitized to violence. Franck Rastoul, prosecutor at the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, stressed the urgent need to combat drug trafficking, which he said “undermines the foundations of society.”