*Warning: It contains scenes that are somewhat uncomfortable to watch, including harsh language and depictions of sexual violence.
The woman, who had just purchased Hashish from a drug dealer, decided to report it to the police.
It was because of a note given along with illegal drugs by a young seller whom a young seller met in passing in a housing complex in Marseille, France in 2022.
“We are locked up and need help. We are 15 years old,” the note said.
It was revealed at a French court hearing earlier this year that the teenage drug dealer was one of two youths detained after approaching the gang in search of illegal but lucrative work.
One boy was in charge of managing the money, while the other worked the streets around the Frey-Vallon housing complex. But soon, gang leaders forced the boys to take responsibility for the "shortfall" in sales.
Since then, the two boys have been regularly beaten and forced to dance naked in front of cameras to use as a means of intimidation, the court heard. One of them was even sexually assaulted.
Hours after the woman received the note, two teenage boys were injured while trying to escape from a second-floor window. One succeeded in running away, but the other was caught, beaten, and even stabbed, but survived.
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Those involved began to be arrested. Photos of several other young men living in similarly painful conditions were found on the mobile phone of one of the boys' suspected tormentors.
A total of six people were subsequently sentenced to heavy sentences in connection with what happened to the two teenage boys.
The boys' story highlights the extent to which drug gangs control parts of Marseille, France's second-largest city.
Marseille, a port city with a mix of Mediterranean culture, street art, and hip-hop culture, is a popular tourist destination, but a completely different story unfolds once you leave the outskirts of the city.
After months of attempts, the BBC reporting team succeeded in entering this dangerous world. This world, centered around Marseille's impoverished areas and apartment complexes, is a place where even the local police do not tread lightly.
Our reporters witnessed an environment where ruthless gangs lured vulnerable youth with promises of easy money, ultimately tying them into a world of drug dealing, violence and exploitation.
Our reporters also saw how gangs use social media to recruit hitmen, and spoke with several young people caught up in the violence. A gang member suspected of being involved in several murders said in prison that he was "cold-blooded" which helped him rise to a high position in the gang.
image copyrightSocial media
The most powerful gang in Marseille is the 'DZ Mafia', which emerged victorious in a bloody turf war and is now one of the most feared criminal organizations in France.
'DZ' is Algeria's official Internet country code. One of the gang's founders, French-Algerian Mehdi Laribi, was detained in Algeria on a French arrest warrant earlier this year.
According to Dimitri Julas, head of France's drug trafficking department, the DZ Mafia began attracting attention in 2023. At the time, they were the first French gang to use their notoriety as a promotional tool, such as releasing a video statement and promoting themselves as a brand through social media.
The most recent statement was made in July, when the mayor of a nearby city had to receive police protection after receiving information that he was at risk of being targeted by the group.
A video released online shows six masked people dressed in black standing behind a table, one of whom reads a statement denying the involvement of the DZ Mafia.
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The expansion of France's illegal drug market due to the large-scale distribution of cannabis and synthetic drugs, as well as the rapid increase in cocaine imports, also contributed to the rapid growth of this organization.
Julas predicted that the number of cocaine users in France was around 600,000 in 2017, but will soon approach 2 million. In addition, it was explained that drug trafficking throughout France generates an annual profit of 7 billion euros (approximately 10.6 trillion won), and that approximately 200,000 people are involved in it.
Many of those distributing drugs are children, and authorities say the number of minors involved in drug trafficking is increasing. According to official statistics, by 2024, there will be close to 10,000 children involved in some form of this.
DZ Mafia is a representative example. To gain more customers, the organization needs more members, that is, more children.
Reporters confirmed that the DZ Mafia is currently recruiting youth throughout France. Not just to sell drugs, but also to kidnap, torture, and murder.
For organization executives who mainly operate in prisons or overseas, children of this age are beings who can be easily corrupted and abandoned when necessary.
And as police and judges warn, once these children enter Marseille's underworld, it is very difficult to get out.
image copyrightLea Guedj / BBC
Meanwhile, no one knows the human toll left by Marseille gangs better than Carine Brouillard, who lives in the northernmost part of Norge, the furthest region on France's southern Mediterranean coast.
Karin's son Hugo ran away from home for the first time at the age of 15 after a fight with his family. Three days later, the son returned home after being arrested by police in Marseille, nearly 1,000 kilometers away, with money and marijuana in his possession.
However, a few years later, in 2023, he said he had found work during his vacation at a restaurant near Marseille and would go to the southern region again.
Karin recalled, “My son gave me news on a regular basis,” and “He even called me and said everything was fine.”
But three weeks later, I got a call from the hospital. Karin says she will never forget the doctor's words for the rest of her life.
“Your son was brought in last night. He suffered a gunshot wound to the head.”
Police say Hugo was taken to the hospital seeking medical help in a gang-controlled area and believe he may have gang ties.
That area was ‘Quartier Nord’.
The best way for reporters to get into Quartier Nord, where the DZ Mafia exerts considerable control, is with the help of its resident, Padella Ujdev. This 41-year-old woman, who is also the mother of four children, served as our guide.
Within 37 seconds of entering a housing complex, we were in trouble.
As soon as Padella's Peugeot passed the gang checkpoint, a car horn honked. The teenagers guarding the checkpoint noticed the reporters' cameras.
“Stop filming for a moment,” Padella warned us as a gray four-wheel drive vehicle pushed our car to the side of the road.
When the driver asked about this, Pamela explained that she was “writing a report for a housing association.” The driver told us that he would let us leave if we stopped filming.
I was anxious to see a car that was not a police vehicle act so forcefully, and I felt relieved when the car left.
“Gangs these days are very aggressive,” Padella explained.
“We just want to make our youth understand that what is happening is wrong.”
Padella's comments reflect widespread fears among local residents. There is a fear that children may be lured by large sums of money and fall into a path of crime that will rob them of their innocence.
Meanwhile, a young man says that he spent his teenage years with the DZ mafia precisely because of money.
To allow the interviewees to speak freely, or for security reasons, reporters agreed not to reveal their identities.
It is said that 'Camille' rose up the ranks in the gang and even took on the role of "security chief" in an area controlled by the gang.
The now 20-year-old claimed he had now left the gang. Although he was extremely wary of reporters, he decided to explain how gangs attract young people.
“They know how to get inside your head. They give you anything you want,” he said, giving them everything from fancy cars and spacious apartments to drugs and prostitutes.
“The things they give you make you feel loyal. You stay until the last moment, until you die or go to jail.”
Camille also gave a cool-headed talk about what happens when a gang discovers the weaknesses of newly recruited members.
“They will exploit that weakness. You become their dog, and that’s it.”
Meanwhile, Adam (pseudonym), a member of the DZ Mafia, confessed that he was part of the DZ Mafia's assassination team during a Snapchat video call interview.
He is currently in prison awaiting trial for several murders.
“They recognized my determination and cold-bloodedness, and despite my unwillingness to do so, I rose through the ranks of the gang,” Adam said. “It became my place, and I had no choice but to go with the flow.”
During our conversation, Adam agreed that the murders he was accused of were "pretty shocking."
“The attempts took place in broad daylight, in the middle of a traffic jam… They ranged from going to a man and beating him up, to dragging a man and burning him to death in his car in front of his mother. I’m a calm person, so I handled it pretty well.”
image copyrightMarianne Baisnee / BBC
We asked Adam if he felt any remorse for committing such an atrocious act.
The response was that he “feels somewhat guilty,” but has no regrets.
“Even if I hadn’t done it, someone else would have done it, and it would have continued like that,” he said. “I am just a brick that makes up a wall.”
Like many teenagers in Marseille, he knew he could make a lot of money quickly through drug trafficking. Now in his 20s, he knows that he has stepped into an environment that is like a “trap.”
Meanwhile, price tags for cocaine, hashish and marijuana are graffitied on the walls in a so-called "trading area" in a public housing complex that is blocked and controlled by the DZ Mafia.
This apartment is like a stronghold for drug dealers. With only one entrance and exit, they can control the flow of customers and check to see if the police are coming.
In this area, it is not uncommon to hear gunshots from automatic rifles cutting through the night air.
After months of negotiation, the manager of a rival gang's trading branch agreed to meet with us at his place of work.
The reporters entered this housing complex early in the morning. The sound of birds chirping and the sight of children walking to school contrasted sharply with the criminal activity taking place here on an industrial scale.
Joe said he was already earning 3,000 euros (about 4.53 million won) a month when he was 13 years old. It is said that he now earns 5,000 to 10,000 euros a month.
He seemed to think that this life he had chosen was already a predetermined path. It is a life where you can make a lot of money.
Reporters asked Joe if he ever thought about the lives lost as a result of the violence committed by his gang. But the 23-year-old seemed to have long since come to terms with the pain and destruction caused by drug trafficking.
He shrugged and said, "It destroys people, but we all make our own choices."
Meanwhile, Julas of the drug trafficking unit pointed out that the activities of gangs such as Joe's organization and the DZ Mafia are a threat to national security.
He added that more than 700 cases of drug overdoses occur every year, along with traffic accidents, domestic violence, depression and suicide, adding, "This distorts the economy."
“We are potentially heading towards a systemic breakdown of our criminal justice system.”
In Marseille and other cities, police crackdowns are paying off.
Criminal activity has been disrupted, several major gang members have been arrested and drugs have been confiscated.
According to police, about 1,000 people linked to the DZ mafia have been arrested since 2024, and 600 of them have been imprisoned.
But overall, this fight is getting harder rather than easier.
Social media has become a powerful recruiting tool as organizations seek to expand their reach or replace members who have been arrested or died. In particular, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of social media has grown as street drug sales have moved online.
Reporters were able to find numerous posts on social media recruiting drivers, delivery workers, and hitmen in Marseille. And these recruitment posts often had flashy AI images attached.
As local youth become increasingly aware of the dangers they face, and as it becomes more difficult to attract them, organizations are spreading their nets wider.
According to police, these recruitment posts are a powerful means of attracting teenagers from cities across France, including Paris, Nantes and Lille, to Quartier Nord in Marseille.
Law enforcement officials say these online recruitment posts have also changed the typical characteristics of people who join gangs.
Even if they have no past criminal history, there has been an increase in the number of people who have vulnerabilities that gangs can exploit, such as unstable home environments, becoming involved.
Thibaut Fontaine, head of France's organized crime unit, said, "They are captured by immoral people and driven into the lion's den."
According to Fontaine, these people have no criminal record, so they are easy to catch quickly.
Meanwhile, Karin still has no idea why her son Hugo was shot.
Asked what he would say to the gang leaders who recruit children and young people in Marseille, he said: "They destroy families - someone's sister, brother, grandparents. To be honest, I don't think those people have a heart."
The restaurant where the son said he was going to work actually existed, but the employees there said they had never hired a young man named 'Hugo'.
The cause of his son's death almost certainly lies in the Quartier Nord area of Marseille.
Additional reporting: Marianne Beznet, Léa Gage and Paul Fradie
