Boy ‘stabbed 50 times’, burned alive in suspected drug turf war in France

Prosecutor says slain teenager in the city of Marseille was allegedly hired by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a member of a rival gang.

A 15-year-old boy was “stabbed 50 times” and burned alive earlier this week in southern France, in an apparent case of drug-related violence that appeared to be linked to a second murder case, according to prosecutors in the city of Marseille.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the teenager was murdered on Wednesday, describing the case as one of “unprecedented savagery”.

Marseille, France’s second-largest city but also one of its poorest, has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence described in the French media as “narco-homicide”.

The city has in recent years witnessed a turf war for control of the highly profitable drug market between various clans, including DZ Mafia.

According to Bessone, the slain teenager had been hired by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a competitor by setting fire to his door, adding that he had been promised 2,000 euros ($2,200).

The L’Yonne Republicaine newspaper identified the mastermind as a detainee at the Aix-Luynes penitentiary near Aix-en-Provence and a member of the DZ Mafia group.

Before carrying out the attack, however, the armed teenager was spotted by members of a rival gang, who then stabbed him repeatedly and set him on fire, the prosecutor said.

After his original plot failed following the death of the teenager, the same prisoner in Luynes then recruited a second minor, a 14-year-old, to carry out a revenge attack and kill a member of the rival gang, promising to pay the boy 50,000 euros ($55,000).

Having been ordered to carry out his mission, the teenager and another individual boarded a taxi to the location of the revenge attack. The teenager then reportedly asked the unnamed 36-year-old driver to wait for him.

When the driver refused his request, the would-be teenager killer got enraged and shot the driver dead, using a 357 Magnum revolver, before fleeing, according to the Le Monde newspaper.

The suspects and victims of the killings have not been named by the prosecutor.

The two latest cases bring the number of drug-related killings in Marseille to 17 this year. A total of 49 people were killed in drug-related violence in Marseille in 2023.

Bessone, the prosecutor, noted that the victims and perpetrators of recent violence in the city were becoming increasingly younger.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies