Marseille drug trafficker Félix Bingui, alleged leader of the Yoda clan, was sentenced on Friday to 12 years in prison for having managed one of the most lucrative drug deals in Marseille before being defeated by the DZ Mafia at the end of a bloody war.

Published on: 05/06/2026 - 18:19Modified on: 05/06/2026 - 21:48

Alleged leader of the Yoda clan, drug trafficker Félix Bingui was sentenced on Friday June 5 to 12 years in prison for managing one of the main drug dealers in Marseille.

After three weeks of trial, the Marseille criminal court which judged "Féfé", alias "Le Chat", and 19 other alleged members of the fallen gang, also imposed a 9-year prison sentence on his "right-hand man", Mohamed Hussein Saleh, who was absent when the deliberations were read.

These sentences are significantly lower than the demands of the prosecution, which had requested 16 years in prison against Félix Bingui, aged 35, and 12 years against Mohamed Hussein Saleh. The latter, who appeared free, did not intend to evade justice but wanted to "prepare" for his incarceration, according to his lawyer Me Gaëtan Poitevin.

The court also waived the two-thirds security period requested by the public prosecutor.

Tried for drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy and money laundering, all as a repeat offender, Félix Bingui, extradited by Morocco in January 2025 and whom the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin then presented as "one of the biggest drug traffickers in the country", faced 20 years of imprisonment.

“It’s a gem to have judges independent of political pressures, pressures, sometimes, of the public prosecutor,” reacted Félix Bingui’s lawyer, Me Philippe Ohayon. While we could fear, according to him, a judgment "under political influence (...), this court gave a very clear answer. It is totally independent, like almost all judges in France", he said.

“Colossal profits”

For the prosecution, these are "astronomical quantities of drugs offered to the population of Marseille, astronomical sums which generate colossal profits through organized circuits" that the alleged leader of the Yoda clan and his gang have sold.

“The investigators worked for months to reach the network leaders,” the public prosecutor further underlined in its indictment.

For two years, between August 2021 and June 2023, investigators had monitored, listened to, followed the defendants, implicated in the management of several points of sale in the northern districts, mainly that of La Fontaine, located at the entrance to the Cité de la Paternelle and considered at the time as one of the most profitable in Marseille.

Turf war

Trafficking in this city, which generated tens of thousands of euros in daily turnover, was at the beginning of 2023 at the heart of the turf war between the Yoda gang and the future DZ Mafia, which took the upper hand after several months and at the cost of dozens of deaths and injuries in Marseille.

Very focused throughout the three weeks of hearings, Félix Bingui, shaved head, imposing build and who has 13 entries in his criminal record, denied any involvement in trafficking, claiming to have been based abroad since 2021, first in Spain, then in the Emirates and finally in Morocco.

His expensive lifestyle, between business class flights and stays in luxury hotels, was justified, according to him, by his "gift" for sports betting and his success at poker or "barboute", a dice game.

Other defendants – conveyors, supplyers or packagers – had admitted the facts with which they were accused, while minimizing their role in the network, called Yoda because of the famous “Star Wars” character who adorns one of the murals of their stronghold in the 14th arrondissement. However, they refused to identify the leaders.

Most appeared free and their sentences ranged up to six years in prison. The court also pronounced four acquittals.

In addition to the 12 years in prison, Félix Bingui was also fined 200,000 euros and had an apartment in Dubai confiscated.

Considered by investigators as the "great manager" of the network's points of sale, Zine Eddine Belkai, on the run, was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

With AFP

Keywords associated with the article

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.