'Unprecedented rage': Prosecutor claims 15-year-old teen was likely stabbed 50 times and burned alive in drug-fuelled attack

In a shocking incident that occurred MarseillesA 15-year-old boy was brutally murdered in Paris, a city in southern France, on Wednesday. Prosecutor Nicolas Bessone described the case as one of “unprecedented cruelty” and revealed that the teenager was “stabbed 50 times” and burned alive, likely due to drug-related violence.
Although Marseille is France's second largest city, it is also one of the poorest and plagued by drug-related violence. Bessone noted that both victims and perpetrators of such violence are becoming younger and younger. As the AFP news agency reported, there was a turf war in the city between various clans, including the DZ Mafia, for control of the highly profitable drug market.
According to prosecutors, the teenager was hired by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a competitor by setting his door on fire, promising a payment of 2,000 euros. But members of a rival gang discovered the teenager, stabbed him repeatedly and then set him on fire.
In a similar incident, the same prisoner recruited a 14-year-old minor to carry out a revenge attack and kill a member of the Blacks gang, promising a payment of 50,000 euros. The minor hired a 36-year-old driver, who angered the minor and was subsequently killed.
Last week there was a shooting in a housing project in a Marseille suburb that left two people dead and four others injured, Metro reported, citing local sources.
As the French broadcaster BFM and the daily newspaper La Provence report, “the victims, all men aged around 25 to 35, were in a building that was the target of shots from a Kalashnikov assault rifle.”
The two fatally injured victims died at the scene.
This incident follows another shooting that occurred in the same housing project on July 10, in which a young man was shot and killed in a suspected “drug killing.”
The ongoing violence, blamed on conflicts over drug trafficking, has claimed a record 49 lives in 2023 Drug murders In Marseille, the number has risen to 17 since the beginning of the year, including nine drug-related murders.