Twenty-five Kalashnikov holsters strewn on the ground, two bodies lying in a puddle of blood, mowed down in a vain attempt to escape… The crime scene that the investigators mark out with numbered yellow riders is identical to so many others. However, on July 2, 2018, they are not operating in a Marseille district, as is very often the case, but in the Cité des Canourgues in Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), about thirty kilometers from Aix-en-Provence.
The Assize Court of Bouches-du-Rhône judges, from Monday, February 27, two men accused of this double assassination committed against the backdrop of rivalries between drug dealers. According to the prosecution, one of the victims, a 45-year-old resident of Canourgues, wanted to find a place between the two networks established at the time in the city. The discovery, in his vehicle, of an assault rifle and eight kilos of cannabis resin attests to a rise in power of his activity and the shadow cast on the traffickers in place. The other victim, a young man of 20, caught in the grapeshot, had nothing to do with the trafficking. “Collateral victim”, as the police say.
This trial sheds light on how, over the past few years, Marseille narcobanditry has gained a foothold in medium-sized towns, importing its methods there: intimidation and assassination. Neighborhoods have “Marseilles”, say some experts. Griffeuille in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), Pontcarral in Toulon (Var), Doctor Ayme in Cavaillon (Vaucluse), Canto-Perdrix in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône)… These cities plagued by traffic are new theaters of violence. Five years earlier, these phenomena were unknown there. Three shootings in Arles in 2022, resulting in a collateral victim on June 26 – a 15-year-old teenager – and one injured. In Port-de-Bouc (Bouches-du-Rhône), urban violence and municipal vehicles burned on February 14, 2023 by members of traffic harassed by the police…
“Cartel logic”
“These towns fell under the control of the Marseille networks which sought to extend their networks of influence in search of new outlets”, explains Frédérique Camilleri, police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône. Where small local traffics existed, their weakness allowed the establishment of the Marseillais, sometimes thanks to contacts made in detention. “We are on a logic of cartels that open franchises wherever possible”according to M.me Camilleri.
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