Interview Fight against drug trafficking in Marseille: “We are at a historically low level, but we are far from declaring victory”, assures the prosecutor

On franceinfo, Nicolas Bessone praises the investigative work of the judicial police on the dismantling of teams of hired killers.

In Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), homicides linked to drug trafficking have fallen by 70% since the start of the year. Five homicides linked to drug trafficking have been recorded in almost six months, compared to 23 during the same period last year. In total, in 2023, the Marseille prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone, will count 189 indictments for facts linked to the settling of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking. He draws up this assessment for franceinfo.

franceinfo: What conclusions can we draw from the fight against drug trafficking since the start of 2024 in Marseille?

Nicolas Bessone: We must remain cautious, the situation remains fragile, but we are at a historic low. Compared to last year when, at the same time, 23 people died from the bullets of killers, we can qualify five narchomicides in the Marseille area since the start of the year. If we make a projection, we will then be between eight and ten people dead at the end of the year, which would be a particularly exceptional result since even years less deadly than those of 2023, we still unfortunately deplore, between 20 to 30 narchomicides per year. This is naturally a very satisfying result, but you must remain particularly vigilant.

How do you explain this decline?

There is a cause linked to the voluntarism of the police services, the judicial police to which I would like to pay tribute, but also to the investigating magistrates and the Marseille prosecutor’s office. Based on the proposals made by the judicial police, we focused our action on the arrest and incapacitation of the teams of killers. It’s quite simple, as long as you have killers circulating in the city, you risk having assassinations. Arresting them, removing their logistics, obviously, makes it more difficult to commit these narchomicides. And indeed, 189 people were indicted for narchomicide committed last year, which is an exceptional result. This is one of the reasons which has led to the drop in these narchomicides but here too we must always try to have a complete reflection of a phenomenon. It still appears very clearly today that in the war between DZ Mafia and Yoda, DZ Mafia took the upper hand and therefore naturally has less interest in eliminating people.

“There have been adjustments in the intelligence work to avoid the reproduction of the phenomenon and in particular a certain number of preventive actions which have borne fruit.”

Nicolas Bessone, public prosecutor of Marseille

at franceinfo

Even if these are good results, is there a risk of recomposition of this narco-banditry environment possible?

Absolutely. Last year, the priority was to reduce this paroxysmal crisis. If only because human life is the most important value. These arrests, these cases, the current very significant reduction in the number of homicides allow us to refocus and work on the trafficking networks, on the money laundering circuits, with a certain amount of success. And there, naturally, when you have success – also with net operations, that is to say resolute field action, but at the same time very strong legal actions to have the heads of networks – you weaken the organizations and this can lead to recomposition. This is why we are far from declaring victory. With the police and with the judges, we remain particularly attentive.

Does this fight against drug banditry therefore remain a priority?

The danger and strength of narco-banditry remain indeed very significant and very significant. We are absolutely not letting our guard down. This is a war that we will win over time.